A late-night homecoming prank in St. Martin Parish nearly ended in tragedy when a 71-year-old neighbor opened fire on a group of high school students who were toilet-papering a nearby home, striking their car as they tried to flee. No one was hit, but the man now faces an attempted manslaughter charge along with five counts of aggravated assault with a firearm.
St. Martin Parish Sheriff's deputies responded at 11:57 p.m. Monday to a reported shooting in the 1300 block of Rue de la Porte in Arnaudville, according to KPEL News. As reported by WCTV, Sheriff Becket Breaux said deputies were called to the street just outside Arnaudville shortly before midnight Monday after a man living next door to one of the targeted homes fired a shot toward at least five students, then fired a second round that struck the teens' car as they tried to drive away.
The suspect, identified as 71-year-old Travis Frederick, was arrested and transported to the St. Martin Parish Correctional Center in St. Martinville, per the same KPEL account. Breaux confirmed Frederick was booked on one count of attempted manslaughter, five counts of aggravated assault with a firearm and one count of aggravated criminal damage to property, the outlet reported.
A Prank That Could Have Turned Deadly
According to deputies, the students involved were simply throwing toilet paper on neighborhood homes as part of a homecoming tradition when the confrontation turned violent. WCTV reports that the shooting caused no reported injuries, a detail Breaux emphasized as fortunate given how the night could have gone. The sheriff said the shooting was an overreaction that could have turned deadly and noted the case showed how quickly a neighborhood prank escalated into a criminal investigation.
Breaux also urged the public not to take the law into their own hands, a message that carries legal weight under Louisiana statute. While the state's Stand Your Ground law under LA R.S. 14:20 eliminates a duty to retreat in places a person has a legal right to be, it still restricts the justifiable use of deadly force to situations involving a reasonable belief of imminent death or great bodily harm, according to the Giffords Law Center. Property damage or trespassing from a prank generally does not meet that legal threshold.
Charges and Open Questions
Frederick faces one count of attempted manslaughter, five counts of aggravated assault with a firearm and one count of aggravated criminal damage to property.
As of the latest update, the St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office reported that Frederick's bond had not yet been set. The office said its investigation remains active, urging anyone with additional information about the shooting to contact deputies at (337) 394-3071.
Another Prank-Related Shooting
Breaux said his department has 240 deputies, according to WCTV. In September, a 17-year-old high school student in Will County, Illinois, was shot in the chest with a high-power air rifle during a late-night toilet-papering prank, as Hoodline reported at the time.
