Sheriff Newell Normand says armed teen killed by Jefferson Parish deputy over “freaking truck rims.”
By Michelle Hunter
The Times-Picayune
July 27, 2016
A 17-year-old Metairie boy was shot and killed by a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office deputy in a confrontation late Tuesday (July 26) that started with the theft of two pick-up truck wheels, according to authorities. Devon Martes took aim at pursuing Deputy David Dalton with a 9mm pistol equipped with an extended clip containing 22 rounds of ammunition, Sheriff Newell Normand said.
"Devon Martes pulled the trigger on the gun and tried to kill one of my officers. But for the fact that the gun malfunctioned, I might have a dead officer," Normand said.
The sheriff compared the confrontation to the shootout at the O.K. Corral while holding up a photograph from video surveillance cameras.
"Thirty feet away, gun to gun, eyeball to eyeball, staring each other down... over freaking truck rims," he yelled.
Martes was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting, a warehouse located at 4013 N. Interstate 10 Service Road, Metairie. The warehouse is owned by Advance Central Services-Southeast, a sister company of NOLA Media Group, which operates NOLA.com and publishes The Times-Picayune.
An autopsy determined Martes died of "distant-range gunshot wounds to the head abdomen and leg," Jefferson Parish Deputy Coroner Granville Morse said.
Martes' mother, Alesia Martes, said Wednesday she does not blame the deputy for shooting her son. "They had to do what they had to do," she said.
Wheel theft
The Sheriff's Office received 911 calls reporting two suspicious people seen "rolling shiny objects down the street" near Cleary Avenue and Ford Street around 11:46 p.m. on Tuesday, Col. John Fortunato said.
Investigators later identified those objects as a pair of wheels stolen from a pickup truck parked in a car dealership lot for brand new vehicles.
Deputies flooded the area as the suspects were seen jumping a fence near the lot. A man smoking a cigarette on a front porch nearby called 911 after he spotted a person running towards the back of the newspaper's warehouse, according to Normand.
The person, later identified as Martes, entered the warehouse through a rear roll-up door. The teen darted around a corner and put a cell phone and a set of keys on a table, according to Normand.
He peered into a separate, back warehouse, but quickly turned around. Martes pulled out the 9mm pistol as Deputy Dalton entered the warehouse, Normand said.
In surveillance video released by Advance Central Services-Southeast, Martes can be seen raising an object that appears to be a gun and pointing it at Dalton. The deputy fired a total of six times.
"It was a split-second decision, one in which we could be, this morning, planning the funeral of a deputy," said Normand, who later noted, "My deputy is one of the luckiest men in America this morning."
Normand commented on the irony that the video of the shooting was recorded by surveillance cameras in a warehouse owned by a news outlet.
"Lucky us they had TV cameras all over this warehouse. Had those cameras not been there, this story would probably not have been believed, over two tires and rims," he said.
Not a victim
Detectives recovered the 9mm pistol, which had an obliterated serial number, Normand said. Martes also had marijuana and an unidentified pill in his possession.
The sheriff objected the idea that Martes was a victim in the incident. The teen, he said, acted the part of a cold-blooded killer.
Normand held up photographs taken from Martes' Facebook page that he said shows the teen brandishing guns, including the pistol recovered Tuesday night.
Normand also recounted Martes' criminal record, which includes a shoplifting conviction at the age of 10. The teen has other convictions for drug distribution, armed robbery and criminal trespassing.
"Devon Martes is not the victim. The victim in this case is Deputy Dave Dalton. The victim in this case is the owner of the vehicle inventory lot that lost two tires," Normand said.
Martes made a choice, Normand continued.
"If folks are willing to sacrifice their life and put themselves at risk over two truck rims ... after 39 years in this business, I am completely bewildered. I don't get it. I don't understand it," he said.
Tough statement
Alesia Martes said her son a kind person, but he got caught up in the street life.
"He really wasn't a bad boy, but he put himself in that situation. He put himself in harm's way," she said.
Martes' father made similar comments to other media outlets.
"I appreciate that statement," Normand said. "It's one of the most honest statements that I've ever heard in a long, long time."
The sheriff said he feels for Martes' father, but called the comments appropriate in light of the shooting video.
"It's probably a very tough statement for that father to say because he lost his son," Normand said. "Maybe that's the beginning of the turnaround of the dialogue."
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