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UPDATE, 6/29: Eunice Police confirm that the victim in Tuesday night’s shooting at Jelks and Ulysses streets is a 14-year-old boy who was also previously injured in a shooting in May.

The teen, whose name is not being released due to his age, was shot in the hip and was taken into surgery for his injuries. Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot said no other information on Tuesday’s shooting is currently being released.

The teen had previously been arrested for illegal possession and carrying of a handgun in May, just weeks after he was 200 block of Acadia St. The same teen was also taken in for treatment after a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Aug. 2, 2021.

Fontenot said police are searching for Xavier Bernard Watson for the May 4 shooting.

Fontenot also released the following statement:

The recent shootings in our city, except for one, are all connected. The suspects in one shooting are the victims in the next shooting. It is a continuous cycle. Two factions, which have now evolved into smaller sub-factions, are at war with each other. It’s like the battle of the good and the evil, except the evil are battling the evil, they have turned on themselves. Evil always turns on itself.

These children with guns are the product of a society that has discouraged discipline and called it cruelty and abuse. They were told it is wrong to pray at school or in public, but not taught to pray at home. They are raised on violent video games that teach if you are killed, you hit the restart button and are given new life. They are allowed to listen to music (if you can call it that), that endorses rape, murder, violence, drugs and thievery. Society fills their heads with all this * and questions why these children lead the life they live. When we sow evil, we reap evil.

We obviously serve different Gods. Mine doesn’t condone what society teaches and allows. Until society changes, we can’t expect change in the behavior of its product.

Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot

ORIGINAL POST, 6/28: EUNICE, La. (KLFY) – A Tuesday evening shooting leaves one in the hospital.

According to Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot, officers responded to a shooting Tuesday evening. An unidentified victim was shot on the corner of Jelks and Uylsses streets.

The victim was transported to a Lafayette hospital and is in stable condition. The investigation is ongoing and Eunice Police are trying to get a positive ID on the suspect.