5 people dead in Louisiana shooting: Suspect at large and 'armed and dangerous'

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Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office(NEW YORK) — Police are searching for a 21-year-old man who they say may have fatally shot five people Saturday morning across two neighboring parishes in Louisiana.

Dakota Theriot, is suspected of shooting and killing three people in Livingston Parish and two people in Ascension Parish, which are just east of the state capital, Baton Rouge.

The Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post that deputies were dispatched around 9 a.m. to respond to a homicide involving multiple victims. The two shootings in Ascension Parish occurred shortly before then, according to the Ascension Parish Sherriff’s Office.

The Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office said Theriot is driving a silver and gray 2004 Dodge pickup truck and that he is “armed and dangerous.”

“We do not believe the suspect to be in Livingston Parish at this time. We are working in conjunction with the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office as we believe our case is connected to a homicide investigation in that parish,” Livingston Sheriff Jason Ard wrote in the post.

The three people who were shot in Livingston Parish were Billy Ernest, 44, Summer Ernest, 21, and Tanner Ernest, 18, at a residence on Courtney Road at around 9:00 a.m. Saturday.

The Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office also identified Theriot as a suspect in the double homicide. The victims were Elizabeth Theriot, 50, and her husband, Keith Theriot, 50. In this case, Theriot is wanted for two counts of first-degree murder, illegal use of weapons and home invasion.

Anyone with information on this case is encouraged to call 225-686-2241 x1 or Crime Stoppers at (225)344-STOP (7867).

Dakota Theriot is pictured in this undated photo released by Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office.

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