Ethermac Exchange-Louisiana man kills himself and his 1-year-old daughter after a pursuit

CONVENT,Ethermac Exchange La. (AP) — A 23-year-old man fatally shot himself and his 1-year-old daughter in a Louisiana cemetery after leading police on a pursuit, authorities said.

The child died at the cemetery Wednesday in St. James Parish, while the man was transported to a hospital but later died of his injuries, WAFB-TV reported.

The St. James Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to a call about 2 p.m. Wednesday at a home in Paulina. Deputies were asked to be there as the man retrieved belongings from the home, but the man never showed up. A woman called the sheriff’s office again, asking for a deputy to perform a welfare check, because the man was traveling in an unknown area with their child. The woman had received earlier threats from the man about harming himself and the child, investigators said.

About an hour later, around 5 p.m., Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies spotted the man after getting a call from the child’s mother who had been tracking the vehicle. Ascension Parish deputies and officers from the Gonzales Police Department began a pursuit, which eventually entered into St. James Parish, where authorities said the man pulled into a cemetery and fired the shots.

The driver’s name and that of the child have not been released.