Gibson flooding born of unique issues
July 18, 2017
HPD escape questions draw ready answers
July 18, 2017
A Village East man accused of urging another to fire a weapon at a woman during a street dispute is free on bond, following a reduction allowed by a Terrebonne Parish district court judge.
Andre Tillman is among three people charged in connection with the June 26 handgun-terrorizing of two women on Thomas Drive. Although shots were fired, no injuries were reported.
A warrant had been issued for Tillman after the incident, and although initial plans were made for him to surrender that did not occur.
Rather, he was arrested Thursday afternoon at the Target store on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Houma, for allegedly stealing three bottles of brandy, and the warrant came up. He was booked for theft of goods under $500 regarding the brandy, and on the warrant for the inciting charge, with bond set at $30,500. Judge Randy Bethancourt reduced the bond to $2,000 following argument by attorney Max Smitko that he posed no harm to the community and that he is not a flight risk.
“I’ve received multiple statements indicating that Andre wasn’t even in the area at the time that this incident was alleged to have occurred,” Smitko said. “Andre is a hard-working kid with no criminal record. Any insinuation that Andre was “hiding out” is completely bogus. If he was attempting to avoid law enforcement, going to the same job that he’s held for three years and returning for the night to his home after his shift seems like a curious way to go about it. We wish that a more orderly surrender could have occurred.”
Gerard Verdin, 18 and 16-year-old Kereon Alexander were already charged in connection with the June 26 incident, during which shots were fired and two women were allegedly threatened with a silver handgun. A warrant for Tillman was active from the date of the occurrence.
Sheriff Jerry Larpenter said deputies were called out at around 12:45 a.m. June 26 to the 3700 block of Thomas Drive in the Village East subdivision. When deputies arrived the women said Verdin threw a cement sculpture through the rear window of a 2017 Kia belonging to one of them, shattering the glass.
Alexander, whose street nickname is “Keebaby,” allegedly drew the pistol and pointed it at the faces of the two women, then pulled the trigger, which clicked. The trigger was pulled again with the pistol pointed in the air, according to the account given officers, and successfully fired.
Verdin then allegedly grabbed the weapon from Alexander and, deputies were told,Tillman said “shoot that b—-.“ Verdin then allegedly fired a shot behind where they were standing, into a field.
The men then fled from the scene and the women were not physically injured. Deputies on patrol later that day spotted Verdin in the same neighborhood and after a foot pursuit apprehended him. He was booked for illegal use of a weapon, two counts aggravated assault with a firearm and criminal damage to property. Verdin remains in the Terrebonne jail in lieu of a $75,000 bond. Deputies went to Tillman’s home that night but he was not there.
On July 4 deputies on patrol spotted Alexander on Friendswood Drive, and arrested him on a charge of attempted second degree murder, illegal discharge of a firearm and illegal possession of a handgun by a juvenile. At the time he was booked, Alexander had active warrants in connection with a disturbance that occurred after a Village East shooting in March, and so he was also charged with inciting to riot. He has since been adjudicated an adult and will be tried as such in the adult court system. His bond is $350,000.
A search continued for Tillman. NAACP President Jerome Boykin, aware that he was wanted, offered to personally surrender him to authorities, but no contact was made.
Tillman is the older brother of a teen shot and killed by a Terrebonne Parish deputy almost three years ago. The mother of Andre Tillman – and the late Cameron Tillman – says the arrest is an attempt by authorities to derail a lawsuit the family filed in connection with the shooting of 14-year-old Cameron by Deputy Preston Norman Sept. 23, 2014.
A Terrebonne Parish grand jury found that Norman acted within the law when he shot Cameron Tillman in the carport of an abandoned Village East home. A State Police investigation report states Cameron was holding a realistic replica of a pistol at the time. The family disputes that contention and a civil trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 11 in federal court at New Orleans. Wteika and Andre Tillman are among the plaintiffs.
“They want to ruin his name before this case starts,” Wyteika Tillman said.
Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter said there is no connection between the cases, and that any suggestion toward that end is spurious.
“We handled an investigation, it was people from the community who filed the complaint against Mr. Tillman, not the Sheriff’s Office,” Larpenter said. “It was a serious complaint. It would have been a murder if the weapon had fired when it was pointed at those victims. We are not fabricating any stories. It’s not ‘according to the sheriff’s office’ it’s according to the victims. We didn’t know who was involved until we receive the call and conducted our investigation. There is no conspiracy and no harassment, there never was.”
