UPDATE: Jan. 27 ― A man wanted in the shooting deaths of five people in Louisiana on Saturday has been arrested in Virginia, authorities said.
Dakota Theriot, 21, was taken into custody in Richmond County on Sunday morning. He is expected to be returned to Louisiana and booked on two counts of first-degree murder, home invasion and illegal use of weapons, the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office said.
PREVIOUSLY:
At least five people are dead in two different parishes in Louisiana as law enforcement officers search for the suspected gunman who is considered to be armed and dangerous.
Three people were found dead inside of a mobile home in Livingston Parish on Saturday, according to the Livingston Sherrif’s Office. Two more people were found dead inside a residence in Gonzales, located in Ascension Parish, less than 30 miles southwest of Livingston. Both parishes are outside Baton Rouge.
Officials believe that both incidents are related. The sheriff’s offices in Ascension and Livingston are searching for the suspected gunman, Dakota Theriot, 21.
The victims in Livingston were identified as Billy Ernest, 43, Tanner Ernest, 17, and Summer Ernest, 20. The two victims found in Gonzales were identified as husband and wife Keith and Elizabeth Theriot, both 50 years old.
The suspect is believed to be Keith and Elizabeth Theriot’s son. Officials also believe that Summer Ernest was in a “brief relationship” with Dakota Theriot, a Livingston Sheriff’s Office spokesperson told HuffPost.
“This is probably one of the worst domestic violence [incidents] I’ve seen in quite a while,” Ascension Sheriff Bobby Webre said during a press conference Saturday afternoon. “For a young man to walk into a bedroom and kill his mother and his father, and then kill friends in Livingston that he had a connection with.”
Webre said that officers were able to identify the suspected gunman after speaking with Keith Theriot before he died. The gunman lived with his parents for a brief time, but was asked to leave and not return.
According to Webre, investigators learned of the triple homicide in Livingston while investigating the shootings in Gonzales.
Lori Steele of the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office told HuffPost that the gunman first killed three people in Livingston before heading to Ascension.
Webre said that Theriot is wanted on two counts of first-degree murder, illegal use of weapons and home invasion.
Authorities think that Theriot has since fled the state and may be headed east toward Mississippi. He’s believed to be driving a gray and silver 2004 Dodge pickup truck with the license plate number C583809.
Hilary Hanson and Nina Golgowski contributed to this report.
This story has been updated throughout with additional details.