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Background: The location where the police chase of Aaron Morgan ended in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (WAFB). Inset: Aaron Morgan (WAFB).
A Louisiana man pleaded guilty on Monday hours before jury selection in his trial for fatally stabbing his grandmother, stabbing and injuring his mother, and shooting three other people.
Aaron Morgan, 32, received what amounts to a life sentence, with a total of 120 years in prison, according to Baton Rouge CBS affiliate WAFB. He had pleaded down from second-degree murder to manslaughter, but also accepted five counts of attempted murder in the first degree and one count of robbery with use of a firearm.
He lashed out in a bloody crime spree on Aug. 1, 2021. First, he fatally stabbed his grandmother Diane Gafford, 78, and injured his mother so severely that she had to be hospitalized.
According to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, he fled to a nearby Highland Marketplace shopping center, where he stole a car and shot three strangers. It just so happened to be outside a Ochsner Urgent Care facility, so medical staffers were right there to help those injured victims until ambulances arrived.
Deputies later spotted Morgan, who led them on a brief car chase. He got out of the vehicle, tried fleeing on foot, and fired several shots, deputies said. Authorities fired back, striking him twice, they said.
Sharon Weston Broome, then mayor-president of Baton Rouge, called the event a “terrible tragedy.”
“[Sunday] morning a terrible tragedy occurred in our community where several innocent people were injured and at least one person has died. While there is no longer an active threat thanks to the quick work of our first responders, our public safety agencies are still responding to this traumatic event,” she said. “We are in communication with law enforcement as more details unfold. Please pray for those recovering from their injuries. Also, thank you to the good Samaritans who rushed in moments after the incident to render aid.”
Assistant District Attorney Vincent Nguyen on Monday alluded to several factors as to why the case took so long.
“It takes time talking to all the victims, in separate locations,” he told WAFB. “And then trying to get something that works for everyone and get justice for each person that is involved.”
A relative of one of the injured victims reportedly called Monday a “a bittersweet day.”