In 2 Louisiana shootings, deputies wounded, suspects killed

NEW ORLEANS – Authorities say separate weekend exchanges of gunfire in two areas of Louisiana have left two sheriff’s deputies wounded and two suspects dead.

In St. Tammany Parish, north of New Orleans, officials told news outlets, deputies chased a burglary suspect Sunday who crashed his car in a ditch and exchanged fire with deputies. Twenty-four-year-old Joseph Walden Johnson Jr. was killed. Sheriff Randy Smith says Deputy Justin Nail underwent surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.

In western Louisiana’s Vernon Parish, the sheriff’s office says, a deputy exiting his car to answer a domestic call Sunday immediately encountered an armed man. The agency says the deputy was shot in the forearm and returned fire, fatally wounding 60-year-old Bobby Hinton. The unidentified deputy was released Monday from the hospital.