Pride, planning and passion: South Lafourche High School to share its successes this summer
April 24, 2019
Horrid details, odd history surround ‘loud music’ shooting
April 24, 2019
Last week, Karen Maloz was at a neighborhood watch meeting where local officials said good things about the dedication of the volunteers, and the Southdown West subdivision’s record of safety.
On Easter Sunday, the Houma septuagenarian was in the ICU at University Hospital in New Orleans, being treated for gunshot wounds inflicted not by an interloper or intruder, but – according to police – by her very own son.
Her condition was not disclosed by the hospital.
The son, Christopher Thomas Maloz, 32, was booked into the Terrebonne Parish jail on two counts of attempted second degree murder, and aggravated criminal damage to property. Houma Police Department officers, backed up by Terrebonne deputies, converged on the quiet subdivision’s streets a bit before 6 p.m. after receiving a report of a woman shot; Shortly after their arrival Christopher Maloz was taken into custody. His father, Bill Maloz, was present when the incident occurred but was not reported injured.
Witnesses said that overall they heard as many as five shots in the vicinity of the Maloz residence at 1313 Levee Drive. The neighborhood is tucked away behind the heavily traveled thoroughfares of St. Charles Street and Valhi Boulevard; The heavy police presence in bright daylight did not go unnoticed by passengers, nearby shoppers and passersby, lighting up local social media sites with questions and verbal snippets of what people had seen.
Lt. Travis Theriot, a city police spokesman, said the incident is still under investigation and that a motive for the violence had not been determined.
The alleged gunman was arrested in 2012 by Thibodaux police, local records showed, for possession of marijuana, possession of Schedule IV narcotics and possession of drug paraphernalia. A disposition of the case was not available for review.
Karen and Bill Maloz were known to other Southdown West residents as a friendly and caring couple.
Bill Maloz had in the past worked closely with some local officials as U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project manager.,
Neighbors who saw Christopher Maloz on occasion had little good or bad to say about him. But all who spoke said they were shocked by Sunday’s turn of events.
“They both care and are concerned for the well-being of the neighbors,” said Jo Ann Pellegrin Caillouet, the neighborhood watch group’s captain. The April 17 meeting Karen Maloz attended was held at the nearby Rouses supermarket.
The Maloz’s brick ranch-style home is typical of others in the middle-class subdivision, with a well-tended lawn neighbors describe as “beautiful,” and which they were horrified to see transformed into a crime scene. Some who witnessed the drama that unfolded described Christopher Maloz as “out of it” when police took him into custody. •
