Man arrested in burglary, beating

The Plaquemine City Police last week arrested a Plaquemine man in the July 5 burglary of an Allen Street house and the beating of a man who happened in on the crime, Capt. Kenneth Payne said.

Shaheed Thompson, 24, of 23715 Calvin Street, Plaquemine, turned himself in after learning there were warrants against him; he was charged with aggravated burglary and aggravated second degree battery in the case, Payne said.

The victim in the case, a cousin of the Allen Street resident, told police he walked in on a burglary in progress and was beaten with an ax handle until he managed to break free, the captain said. He said someone in the area notified police that the victim was being chased down the street by a man with a gun in his hand.

“When police arrived, they found the victim bleeding from his head and learned the victim had been beaten but not shot at,” Payne said. He said the man knew his attackers and was able to identify them before he was transported to Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center in Baton Rouge, where he was received stitches to his head and was kept overnight.

Police had previously arrested Cardenous Wicks, 18, of 59655 La. 1145 lot 32, on charges of principal to aggravated second degree and principal to aggravated burglary, Payne said. He said Wicks is accused of driving Thompson and another man to the Allen Street house and waiting for them a block away during the crime.

The burglars had forced their way through a rear door of the house, and the victim had used a key to enter his cousin's residence to pick up something he left there earlier in the day, the captain said.