Father dead; daughter critical following home invasion in Hammond
Tangipahoa sheriff offering $5,000 reward for information that could lead to arrests
HAMMOND, La. (WVUE) - A home invasion Monday (Sept. 12) night left a Hammond father dead and his 12-year-old daughter in critical condition, according to the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Chief Jimmy Travis said that deputies discovered Donta Perry, 33, dead inside his apartment from an apparent gunshot wound. His daughter was shot five times and is expected to survive the surgery. Perry’s two other children, ages 7 and 3, were also in the home at the time and were unharmed.
“It’s horrible that you have someone who would intentionally attempt to take a life of a child just because they were present at a crime or may have witnessed a crime,” Travis said. “So it appears to us that after the crime was committed then the suspects attempted to kill everyone involved as witnesses to this incident.”
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Travis says that just before 11:30 p.m. on Monday night, the sheriff’s office received reports of three to four men inside Perry’s home on Rufus Bankston Road armed with guns. As deputies responded, they heard shots fired inside of the apartment, Travis said.
Family members are coming to grips with the tragedy.
“My cousin was very loving,” Perry’s cousin Stephine Brown said. “He was very creative. Anywhere he went, he touched your spirit. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for nobody (sic) but for them to do him like this now... it’s uncalled for. It’s selfish.”
The identity of the suspects is unknown at this time, according to Travis. He believes the motive relates to money and drugs.
Chief Travis says gang activity and violence have increased across the parish over the last two years and his office is focusing more resources on solving those ongoing problems.
“For somebody to do something so heinous and so mean and so egregious I just can’t get past it. Somebody’s so good to have to lose their life over somebody being so selfish,” Perry’s uncle, Gavin Holden said.
The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office is currently offering a $5,000 reward for information that could lead to the identification and arrests of the suspects.
Anyone with any information at all call the sheriff’s office at 985-345-6150.
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