Gunman barricaded in cop car outside Terrebonne jail (updated)

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An armed man barricaded himself inside a Houma City Police car Thursday morning on Grand Caillou Road outside of the Terrebonne Parish jail, after firing two shots and causing the officer driving him to the Terrebonne Parish jail to exit the vehicle, according to preliminary but unofficial reports from law enforcement officials.

The officer was not injured during the incident, which has resulted in the man, who has not yet been identified, remaining inside the police car as a negotiator tries to talk him into surrendering peacefully.

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During the attempt to arrest the man a police officer used a Taser, and per protocol he was brought to Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center for examination. A preliminary account from a ranking law enforcement official maintains that the handcuffed man was then transported for booking to the jail on Grand Caillou Road. But as the officer neared the jail compound a gun was produced and two shots were fired inside the car, shattering at least one window.

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Police have been trying to convince the man to throw his gun out the window so that he can be safely removed by officers. Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s deputies, Louisiana State Police and City Police are at the scene.

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Talks continued as morning traffic was held up on Grand Caillou Road north and south of the jail, until shortly before 6:30 a.m. Officers were then said to have set off a non-lethal flash-bang grenade to distract Whitrack, who then shot himself in the chest.

Officials said no shots were ever fired at Whitrack.

The case is under investigation, as authorities attempt to determine how Whitrack, who was strip-searched at the hospital when taken there for treatment from the Taser deployment, got his hands on a weapon.

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