Son shoots mother on Easter Day
April 24, 2019
Gee encourages health advocates
April 24, 2019
A 70-year-old man deputies say shot and severely wounded a man in Gray because of loud music had a history of odd behavior that included sitting on his porch with an M-16 rifle for long periods of time and allegedly pointing guns at neighborhood children and teens.
In almost all of the cases neighbors related, however, calls were not made to authorities, despite their admission that the man’s actions placed them in fear.
Thomas Kennedy, described as a veteran of the Vietnam war, who served successively in the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, remains in the Lafourche Parish jail in lieu of a $1 million bond, charged with attempted murder.
The shooting victim, identified by family members as Emilio Jimenez, was still at University Hospital in New Orleans on Easter Sunday. His wife, Chasity Morvant Jimenez, along with other loved ones, has remained by his side since Tues., April 16, when he was airlifted to University Hospital in New Orleans.
“At the hospital, they are saying he is a living, breathing, miracle,” Chasity said.
Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said Kennedy himself called for deputies to respond after the incident, was cooperative and admitted what he had done. The call, Webre said, was received at around 8 p.m.
The location is south of Schriever, not far from the Bayou Blue Bypass Road.
“Deputies learned Thomas Kennedy had walked to a neighboring residence and confronted a man sitting in his vehicle,” Webre said. “Kennedy brandished a revolver and shot the man in the face. The victim was airlifted to University Medical Center in New Orleans where he remains in critical but stable condition (and) is expected to recover.”
Chasity Jiminez said the shooting of her husband occurred with no warning in the presence of her daughters, ages 7 and 16. Layla, the 7-year-old, called Kennedy “Paw-Paw Tom” as did other family members. He referred to Layla as his granddaughter.
“My husband worked till 4:30 that day and then went and helped a man that owns horses who has a barn,” she said. “He was installing a swimming pool for our Layla’s birthday that Tom Kennedy purchased, and getting the sand leveled off to place it on. At about 7:30 I asked Layla to see if daddy was ready to eat. He was sweating out there and had nothing to drink.”
Emilio was playing music from his truck radio, but according to his wife it was not inordinately loud and the base feature was turned off.
“When we checked later the volume was on six,” she said, then related that Layla saw Kennedy walking toward her and her father.
Emilio saw Kennedy coming as well, and neither father nor daughter thought anything of it, Chasity said.
“As he walks by Layla says ‘Hey Paw-Paw I love you,” Chasity said.
Without warning, according to Chasity’s account, derived in part from what her daughters saw, Kennedy produced a pistol and grabbed Emilio “by the pressure points in the back of his neck, stuck the gun clean in his mouth and fired. Emilio said ‘oh my God he shot me, and I got him to sit inside of the truck.”
Kennedy, she said, walked calmly to his porch, after declaring that his action would put an end to the music he despised.
“I told him you just shot your granddaughter’s father,” Chasity said.
What she says hurts the most, aside from the injuries inflicted on her husband and the trauma she fears will affect her daughters, is the closeness the family had with Kennedy.
“We are closer to him than our whole families,” Chasity said. “I drive him everywhere he needs to go because he can’t drive anymore. Sometimes he was mad because of teens driving four-wheelers all day long. He said he wanted to “kill the little faggots and heathens and shoot every one of them. He said he would start at the back of the trailer park and work his way up to the front. We never thought he would make good on any such thing and laugh it off.”
She said that she tended to the man’s needs, seeking to help him as a neighbor. The drives included trips to doctors and other errands. She said Kennedy would talk with her about his 28 years in military service, including duty in Vietnam.
Chasity said she was aware that Kennedy was injured in the service and was awarded a Purple Heart. His license tag indicates that he is a Purple Heart recipient as well.
While she drove him places, Chasity said, Kennedy would speak of desires to do violence to people who annoyed him. But she never dreamed a violent act would result, nor that the person on the receiving end would be her husband.
“He would see people do things on the road and there were expressions of what I would call big time road rage,” Chasity said. “I heard him say he could kill somebody and because of his PTSD they would just send him to the VA to a padded cell. He said they would be in the ground and he would be at the VA all nice and taken care of with his medication and they would let him out.”
Sheriff Webre confirmed that his deputies had responded to a complaint about Kennedy’s habit of carrying and holding a firearm.
“It was on his property and that was no violation of the law,” Webre said.
Neighbors interviewed over this past weekend described two occasions where they said Kennedy had pointed a firearm – once at a teen and once at a child – but also acknowledged that they had not complained to police when those instances allegedly occurred.
“If someone had called about a person pointing a gun at a child trust me every law enforcement officer hearing that would respond,” Webre said.
The Sheriff said the accounts of neighbors and the shooting of Jimenez reinforce what officials tell people time and again, that if they see something wrong they should notify police.
He also said, however, that the law has strict controls over whether or when authorities may disarm a person, even if their behavior seems odd or is considered marginally threatening.
During this legislative session lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow police greater power to have firearms taken from a person who appears as a danger to self or others. HB 486, filed by Rep. Gary Carter (D-New Orleans), provides a roadmap for seizure of firearms from people considered a danger, after judicial scrutiny or in an emergency upon affidavits filed by two police officers.
Sheriff Webre said he is studying the legislation to determine how it might be applied if passed.
At University Hospital on Monday Emilio showed strong progress, removed from a ventilator several days before and starting to walk on his own in the hospital’s hallways.
“I don’t want revenge,” his wife said. “I am hoping Tom Kennedy will end up getting the help that he needs. I can forgive but I can’t ever forget.” •
