Suspect and Homeowner Both Arrested After Burglary

A Slidell, Louisiana man suspected of breaking into a home and assaulting a woman inside is recovering in the hospital after she shot him in self-defense, but another resident of the home is also under arrest and facing up to 15 years in prison for his own gun use during the encounter.

According to officials with the Saint Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, 52-year-old Tyrone Mercadel knew the people inside the residence when he allegedly kicked in the front door of the home on Monday evening. After making his way inside the home Mercadel is accused of physically assaulting a female resident, who fought back with her fists… and eventually a gun. 

The sheriff’s office says the woman fired two shots at Mercadel, wounding him in the leg. After being shot, the suspect then fled the home and tried to speed off in a vehicle. That’s when another individual in the house, identified by authorities as Wayne Mercadel, fired multiple rounds at the tires in an attempt to stop the suspect from getting away. 

The New Orleans Times-Picayune report on the incident doesn’t way whether he was successful in shooting out the tires, but Tyrone Mercadel was taken into custody a short time later… as was Wayne Mercadel. 

Tyrone Mercadel will be booked into the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Center for one count of aggravated burglary.

Wayne Mercadal was booked Monday night into the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Center for aggravated criminal damage to property.

The Sheriff’s Office said Mercadel was known to the homeowners, but did not say how.

Aggravated criminal damage to property is a felony-level offense punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and 15 years of hard labor. The charge is levied when authorities believe someone inflicted “intentional damaging of any structure, watercraft, or movable [vehicle], wherein it is foreseeable that human life might be endangered.”

The woman who shot Tyrone Mercadel isn’t facing any charges, because she clearly had reason to believe that her life was in jeopardy when she used her gun to protect herself. Her companion, on the other hand, is looking at the possibility of serious prison time. 

Shooting out the tires of a car to stop a bad guy from getting away may happen on a regular basis in TV shows and action movies, but in real life it’s an activity that’s likely to result in criminal charges like this, even if the shooter had no intent of harm. When Tyrone Mercadel (allegedly) got behind the wheel and started to drive away, he presented no immediate threat to either Wayne Mercadel or the woman who’d just been assaulted. If the suspect had driven towards either of the pair then they would likely have been justified in using lethal force to defend themselves from great bodily harm or death, but discharging a firearm solely to keep someone from leaving the scene of a crime is, in itself, a criminal offense in Louisiana.

Having said that, I doubt that prosecutors are going throw the book at Wayne Mercadel unless there are some extenuating circumstances that have not yet come to light in the press. Still, even if they don’t seek the maximum sentence the gun owner could be looking at a felony conviction and the loss of his right to keep and bear arms in addition to any potential prison time imposed by a judge after a conviction or proposed by prosecutors as part of a plea deal. In the heat of the moment it might have seemed like a good idea to try and shoot out the tires of the suspect’s getaway vehicle, but without a reasonable threat to life and limb the best course of action from a legal perspective would have been to get a good look at the car and license plate… and to wait for the injured suspect to show up at a local hospital for treatment.