Louisiana State Police Col. Lamar Davis held back tears in a news conference held Monday for additional information on how Master Trooper Adam Gaubert’s death went unnoticed for nearly 15 hours.
“This event has been one of the toughest events that I’ve ever had to work in my entire career. Losing a co-worker and a friend like Adam puts a hole in your heart and there’s nothing out there that can replace that,” said Col. Davis.
The head of state police said their investigation so far reveals that surveillance video picked up Master Trooper Gaubert backing into a location on Dutton Rd. around 12:30 am on Saturday, Oct. 9th.
Col. Davis said they believe Gaubert was finishing a crash report and made his final entry into the LSP database at 2:21am.
“It is not uncommon for our troopers to complete their paperwork after completing a crash in that manner,” said Col. Davis.
At 2:30am, surveillance video picked up Mire in the Dutton Rd. area with the stolen Chevy Silverado’s headlights off.
“That’s where we believe he ambushed Master Trooper Adam Gaubert while he was seated in his unit,” said Col. Davis.
Col. Davis added they believe Mire went to that location to stage his next steps in Ascension Parish where he allegedly shot his cousin Joseph Schexnayder, 42, and Schexnayder’s long-time girlfriend Pamela Adair, 37. Pamela died at the hospital while Schexnayder remains in critical condition.
That’s after Mire had been in Livingston Parish around 12:30am where officials said Mire allegedly shot a man and woman at a mobile home park on Hwy. 444 and then allegedly stole the blue Chevy Silverado.
Around 5am, a Troop A trooper was on Hwy. 42 west of Jefferson Hwy. when he heard a call for a trooper needing backup. Because Mire’s truck was in front of him, the trooper activated his lights to alert the driver to move to another lane so the trooper could get to the call quickly. The trooper did not know at this time the vehicle in front of him was Mire.
But when the trooper activated his lights behind Mire, it most likely scared Mire into thinking the trooper was after him so Mire allegedly started shooting at the trooper according to Col. Davis and then drove off quickly.
That’s when the trooper started a pursuit of Mire’s vehicle.
It’s important to point out that State Police troopers work 12-hour shifts so shift change is between 5am-6am, which happened to be around the same time everything was happening with Mire.
But regardless if troopers were off the clock, it was an all hands on deck meaning troopers coming off the clock stayed over to help the shift that was just starting. The pursuit ended at a shopping area on Jefferson Hwy at Hoo Shoo Too Rd. in East Baton Rouge Parish where Mire allegedly continued shooting at the trooper.
Col. Davis said that trooper returned fire. The trooper was not hit by any of the rounds fired by Mire but his unit was hit twice, once in the windshield and once in the grill.
A bit later, Col. Davis said troopers found the stolen truck Mire was in unoccupied but with bullet holes. That’s when officials say Mire escaped the pursuit and went into a heavily wooded area. Given the nature of events, Col. Davis said radio traffic was limited per normal procedures.
“During the response of pursuits, trooper involved shootings and manhunt, radio traffic was suspended for emergency broadcast only and units were not calling themselves off duty or making any other calls that were not of emergency nature. It is our radio protocol during these types of events for our personnel that are not involved in the immediate event to not communicate on the radio. So even if Adam was fine, because of the protocol in place, he would not have communicated on the net unless it would have been of emergency nature,” said Col. Davis.
Around 5pm, Col. Davis said a neighbor in the Dutton Rd. area called and said a state police unit with an unresponsive driver was near the Capital One Bank. Unfortunately, that’s when a co-worker found Master Trooper Gaubert dead in his unit, nearly 15 hours after he died.
“The time between the murder of Master Trooper Adam Gaubert and the time he was found is absolutely unacceptable. The results of this chaotic situation contributed to just that, however the safety of our troopers, our officers and our personnel is paramount. Due to these types of incidents and the nature of these events that occurred on Oct. 9th, it created the perfect storm by which this happened. Following the shots fired call with pursuing troopers, the radio traffic was held which means that only extreme life or death radio traffic is communicated. This allows for the responding units to communicate effectively and efficiently in a safe manner. Due to this, units were not calling themselves off duty or any other manner,” said Col. Davis.
Col. Davis said troopers do have an end of the shift roll call, but again, given the nature of events, that wasn’t happening. But it’s also why things are changing at the Louisiana State Police. The colonel said system improvements are underway right now with an immediate implementation. That includes expanded GPS coverage, dormant activity alerts and improved personnel tracking by staff.
“There is no worse feeling than to lose a co-worker, lose a friend, lose anyone, but I can tell you we are learning from this experience. We’re getting better and we’re creating a better system for all our employees as well as our public,” said Col. Davis.
Whether Master Trooper Gaubert’s unit had GPS remains under investigation. Officials have said Gaubert was wearing a vest but that could not save him.
After a manhunt for Mire, he was finally arrested around 10:45pm off of Hoo Shoo Too Rd. He was injured by a K9 and a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his leg. It’s why he was taken to the hospital. After surgery, he was released and taken to the East Baton Rouge Parish jail where he is facing numerous charges.
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