We’ve been reporting on last week’s shooting incident in Mamou with the Sheriff’s deputy and a suspected thief. The officer was allegedly hit in the head by the perpetrator, Dejuan Guillory, just before an altercation ensued. While he was trying to cuff Guillory, Guillory’s girlfriend was “trying to choke and bite him.” It was during this struggle that the officer fired his weapon, ultimately killing the suspect. And naturally there’s been some buzz surrounding the investigation, but all of the information is so contradictory, it’s hard to differentiate the truth from what’s merely rumors.

Many are telling a much different story from what’s been reported. They’re saying that Guillory was only shot by the officer because of an apparent dispute between the two over an ex-girlfriend. Whether or not this is valid information is highly questionable.

But for the time being, we can’t help but notice some parallels in this case and last year’s Alton Sterling case. Yes, in both cases an officer shot and killed a suspected criminal. But also, this time and last, the suspect has been characterized after the fact as a family man, active in his community, someone whose life was really in line. According to PenPoint News, reports that Guillory “was a loving father of three boys, and beloved family man, stellar athlete, and fun ‘country-boy,’ who people loved to be around.” While we won’t dismiss this entirely, we also can’t dismiss his criminal record.

Let us remind you that Guillory, like Sterling, had a criminal record. He was arrested in 2015 when he was caught trying to rob a bank. Specifically, he used a stolen backhoe to drag away an ATM machine, and when police officers arrived, he fired a weapon at them. And apparently police found 12 shell casings fired from an AR-15 near the stolen backhoe.

The charges? Attempted murder, aggravated criminal damage to property over $150,000, theft of the backhoe, and felony theft of $100,000. With charges like these, we’re not exactly sure why Mr. Guillory was walking free not even two whole years after this incident.

According to The Advocate, he entered a no contest plea to simple criminal damage to property in December of 2016. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with five years suspended and was to serve five years of probation following his sentence. The rest of the charges – most notably the attempted murder and felony theft charges – were dismissed.

When contacted, the state Department of Corrections couldn’t provide details regarding Guillory’s sentence, and District Attorney Trent Brignac didn’t return any phone calls or messages, The Advocate reports.

Maybe we’re wrong, but something doesn’t seem to add up here.

In the meantime, Dequince Brown, Guillory’s girlfriend who accompanied him last week and who was arrested for attempted second-degree murder of a police officer, was just released after a judge set her bond at $75,000, according to WBRZ. She claims only to have attacked the officer after he shot Guillory.

We really hope that the continuation of this investigation will shed some light on what really happened and silence the false claims being made about the case.