La. Deputy Shot in Back Below Bulletproof Vest in Struggle with Teen

A sheriff's deputy responding to a business burglary call in rural St. Tammany Parish confronted a 13-year-old boy who shot him in the back during a struggle early Wednesday morning.

The deputy was able to help apprehend the suspect before being rushed to a Mandeville area hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said.

Initially, authorities feared the worst and were preparing for the prospect that Deputy Kenneth Doby, a four-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office, would have to be airlifted to a hospital in New Orleans.

'We're lucky'

"We're lucky," St. Tammany Sheriff Randy Smith said early Wednesday morning from the hospital, where he had visited Doby. "This could have really been a tragedy."

Doby was shot while investigating a reported business burglary at the Backroads Mercantile on Louisiana 1083 in the Waldheim area north of Abita Springs.

Doby was shot in the back "just below his bulletproof vest," Smith said. The wound "was through and through," Smith said, meaning the bullet passed through Doby's body.

"He's young and tough," Smith said.

Later Wednesday, the 13-year-old male suspect was booked on multiple counts, including attempted first-degree murder, resisting an officer with violence, battery of a police officer, illegal possession of a handgun, simple burglary and possession of stolen goods.

"From what they tell me during the interview he didn't show any remorse," Smith said of investigators' questioning of the teen.

Burglary at convenience store

The Sheriff's Office said Doby was patrolling an area around 3 a.m. near Louisiana 21 and Louisiana 1083 as a burglary alarm at a convenience store came in. Smith said the Sheriff's Office gets a "number of alarms" from the store, and deputies never know what they'll find when they respond.

In this instance, deputies found a store window shattered and saw a person walking away along La. 1083. When they tried to question that person, he struggled with them and at some point during that struggle, authorities say he shot Doby with a handgun.

Pete Tulli, who has owned the general store for 18 years, said that it has never been a target for crime until the last month, when there were several attempted burglaries that resulted in broken windows.

But no burglar had ever entered the store before Wednesday morning, he said. He was notified of the break-in at 2:30 a.m. and immediately left his home in Big Branch for the store, where he found a window broken and some cigars missing. He estimated that $15 in merchandise was stolen.

Tulli said he had heard the cigars were found on the suspect.

At mid-morning Wednesday, Tulli was preparing to reopen the store, which he said has almost exclusively local customers. It had been closed earlier because it was a crime scene, he said.

He said he assumes that the suspect lives in the area, since he is so young and was on foot. "I don't know who, obviously," he said.

Smith said Doby joined the Sheriff's Office after stints working for the Tangipahoa and Washington parishes sheriff's offices.

The Sheriff's Office has been inundated with requests from the public about how to help Doby, according to a news release, with many asking about blood donations.

While Doby was not expected to need blood, the release said that the Blood Center was setting up a blood drive to benefit him Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Registrar of Voters Office on the first floor of the St. Tammany Parish Courthouse parking garage in downtown Covington.

The Blood Center will open an account in Doby's name and $10 will be put into the account for every blood donation made in his name.

Blood donations can also be made at any of the Blood Center's nine locations and donors should specify that they are making a replacement donation of Deputy Kenneth Doby's behalf.

Staff writer Carlie Kollath Wells contributed to this story.

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