JULY 30 UPDATE 5:45pm
Two people have been arrested in separate incidents in Port Allen stemming from Friday morning.
In reference to the bomb threat at First Bank, Port Allen Police Chief Corey Hicks said a woman was arrested and has been charged with one count of terrorizing. Her name was not readily available.
“It wasn’t a real bomb threat. State Police came out with the dog and they did not find anything. The bank scene was cleared,” said Chief Hicks.
As for the incident at Court Street Cafe, Norvin Nez has been arrested and is charged with one count of illegal carrying of a weapon.
Nez allegedly had an AR-15 pistol and handgun in his backpack along with ten 30-round magazines.
Although Nez has a concealed carry from Oklahoma, his driver’s license is from New Mexico. Oklahoma requires residents to live in the state for the concealed carry to be recognized. Since Nez currently lives in New Mexico, his concealed carry was no longer valid, hence the arrest.
Louisiana does recognize Oklahoma’s concealed carry.
“As of now, we don’t think the two scenes were connected,” said Chief Hicks. “Our investigation is still ongoing so we haven’t ruled anything out just yet.”
ORIGINAL
The Port Allen Police Department is trying to piece together exactly what happened Friday morning between the First Bank & Court Street Cafe.
It was around 9:30 when Port Allen Police Chief Corey Hicks said they received a call for a possible bomb at the bank. Officers and deputies from the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office responded immediately. The bank was shut down, evacuated and a perimeter was set up.
State Police also responded to the scene, which is proper procedure in the case of any bomb threat.
While all that was developing, Chief Hicks said the owner of Court Street Cafe called about a suspicious person in the restaurant.
Officers & deputies responded to the restaurant and found the man with an AR-15 pistol in his backpack, two additional handguns and ten 30-round magazines. That’s nearly 300 rounds if all the magazines were full.
Sources said the individual did have a concealed carry from Oklahoma, which Louisiana does recognize, but his driver’s license was from the state of New Mexico. It’s why he was detained and could possibly be looking at charges for illegal carrying of a firearm.
Chief Hicks said one other person has also been detained.
“It’s unclear right now if the two scenes are connected or not but our investigation continues,” said Chief Hicks.
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