Three found dead in Raceland

Three men, all suffering multiple gunshot wounds, were found dead inside a car in the 600 block of St. Louis Street in Raceland early Monday morning.

Shell casings found near the Ford Mustang indicate the men were shot by an AK-47 rifle, said Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman Larry Weidel.

The three victims were Chauncy K. Adams, 30; Brad Adrian Bourda, 27, and Terry Leonard Hester, 22. Bourda and Hester were found in the front seat. Adams was in the back.

Weidel said the incident was the first triple homicide in Lafourche Parish in at least 16 years.

A fourth man, Brandon Gabriel, 25, was shot in the legs while walking nearby and taken to Ochsner St. Anne General Hospital in Raceland. Gabriel said he was walking along the street when he was shot.

Weidel said he believes the same people were involved in the two shootings. However, another weapon was probably used to shoot Gabriel because the powerful AK-47 would have caused a more severe wound to Gabriel’s legs, he said.

The sheriff’s office received a call reporting gunshots at 2:09 a.m. Officers found the Mustang in the street with the lights running.

All three victims had criminal records. Adams had been arrested for the attempted manufacture of an illegal drug and resisting an officer.

Bourda was stopped for distribution of crack cocaine and possession of marijuana. Hester had been arrested for carjacking and possession of marijuana.

Weidel said that drug arrests had occurred in the past in the area where the three victims were found.

“But it was street-corner stuff,” he said. “Nothing including major violence.”

AK-47s are the most widely-distributed assault rifles in the world. Weidel said the triple homicide incident is the first time he has encountered the weapon being used to commit violence in Lafourche Parish.

“It’s frightening because these guys have more firepower than the police,” he said.

Weidel said bullets from an AK-47 can penetrate protective vests.

He said when the shootings occurred, a deputy was within earshot.

“If he had arrived on the scene” when the gunmen were there, Weidel said, “he could have been killed.”