Crime in Bogalusa, Louisiana Has Mayor Asking for National Guard

BOGALUSA, La. (KPEL News) - A spike in crime in one Louisiana town has the mayor asking for assistance from the state - including a call for the National Guard.

Bogalusa Mayor Tyrin Truong, the city's 23-year-old first-time elected official, made the call last week, saying that the city has "experienced three shootings with one person actually being struck by multiple bullets" in the first month of the year.

According to the city's Facebook page, Truong "convened a group of elected officials to discuss a plan of action" regarding the rising crime in the city.

Bogalusa, which sits just inside the state's southeastern border with Mississippi, saw several high-profile homicides in the last year, according to WVUE in New Orleans.

Over the past year, Bogalusa was the subject of several notable homicides for a city with a population of about 10,000 people. In July 2022, Javorius Scott, a Bogalusa native and rapper with over one million followers, was killed in a double shooting, bringing a wave of attention to the small city near the Mississippi border. Later in the year, in October, a 15-year-old boy from Covington, was fatally shot outside the stadium of a football game between Bogalusa High and Jewel Sumner High. Police later said that the suspects were also from Covington.

Truong's call for state assistance comes as the city received a grant for additional resources through a recent grant.

“The administration has secured funding pledges for the installation of crime cameras from Superintendent Lisa Tanner and Bogalusa City Schools, Sheriff Randy Seal and the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office, State Senator Beth Mizell, State Representative Malinda White, Parish President Richard Ned Thomas and the Parish President’s Office,” the mayor's office told media outlets. “The City and Bogalusa Police are also working in collaboration with District Attorney Warren Montgomery on additional ways to decrease violent crime.”

His request for state assistance came via a letter to Governor John Bel Edwards' office late last week. In the letter, he asked for assistance from state police and the national guard.

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