Good Guy with a Gun #196: Morgan City, LA
Anti-gun lawmakers don't ask criminals if they "need" their guns — only the law-abiding. We need ours because criminals don't care what anti-gunners think. | Original incident: May 15, 2024
These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is significantly updated from the calendar version.
Joshua D. Robertson doesn’t think laws apply to him. And who can blame him? He was running free after being arrested over and over and over again.
By age 22, he was already a convicted felon. We know this because he was arrested in October 2013 as part of a homicide investigation (emphasis added):
Joshua Donnell Robertson, 22, of Mallard Street in Morgan City, was arrested Oct. 30 on a warrant for aggravated assault with a firearm, resisting an officer and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
But that’s not all.
Driving without a license, July 2014.
Possession of Lortab with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm in the presence of narcotics, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a stolen firearm, transactions involving drug proceeds, violation of a drug free zone and resisting an officer by refusing to be booked, August 2014.
Distribution of crack, March 2015.
57 in a 30, DWI (first offense, refusal), November 2020.
Stop sign violation, resisting an officer by flight, obstruction of justice (tampering with evidence), possession of cocaine and possession of marijuana, December 2022.
And finally, two counts of attempted second-degree murder and charges of aggravated criminal damage to property, illegal use of dangerous instrumentalities, aggravated assault with a firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, simple battery, flight from an officer, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, May 2024.1
But I’m getting ahead of myself, because that’s today’s story.
Robertson was 32 by that time.
He was on the street outside a house when he and a man started to argue. The man was with a small child at the time.
Robertson struck the man and then got a gun from his car. (Felon in possession of a gun for at least the third time — but sure, more gun laws will help.)
The victim retrieved his own gun as he retreated toward the house with the child. When Robertson fired on them, the victim returned fire. At least one bullet struck Robertson’s car.
Robertson drove away. Someone had called 911, so police were on their way. They tried to stop him, but had to give chase before catching and arresting him.
Both the man and the child were uninjured.
Sources
Primary
The Morgan City PD published their report to Facebook.
Local news
KLFY 10, KATC 3, and KQKI all covered the story in roughly equivalent ways, following the police report closely.
Nobody connected the dots on Robertson’s criminal past. I won’t repeat the links from above, but they were all from the archives of St. Mary Now.
To be clear, and to avoid getting sued, I don’t know how many charges he was actually convicted for or pled guilty to, and he’s innocent of those charges until one of those two things happen.
There ought to be a child abuse charge in there too -- shooting at someone with a small child???? Bad enough to shoot at anyone, but a child????