By KEVIN McGILL
NEW ORLEANS (KRON/AP) – Police in New Orleans say they have arrested a suspect they believe managed to slip into the front seat of a police vehicle while handcuffed and shoot the police officer who was transporting him to jail.
The New Orleans Police Department, in brief announcements on social media, announced the arrest Sunday morning of 33-year-old Travis Boys. The arrest follows a 24-hour manhunt for Boys, who escaped from the vehicle after allegedly shooting and killing Officer Daryle Holloway.
Holloway, 45, had been a member of the New Orleans Police Department since 1992. He was the father of three children.
Boys was under arrest on an aggravated assault charge at the time of the shooting. It was unclear how he allegedly obtained a weapon, worked his handcuffed wrists from behind his back and got through a barrier that separated him from the front seat.
Police Superintendent Michael Harrison and Mayor Mitch Landrieu were to hold a press conference later Sunday to provide further details on the investigation into the killing.
Harrison said he met with two of Holloway’s children and Holloway’s former wife at the hospital after he died. “As a new chief, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life,” said Harrison, who became chief last year.
He said he had known Holloway for 23 years and described him as “a great police officer.”
Landrieu on Saturday decried the killing as “the lowest of the low” and called on the public to help police with information on Boys’ whereabouts.
“Killing an officer in the line of duty is an attack on our community that will not stand,” Landrieu said in a statement. “The heart and soul of New Orleans is heavy today as our community mourns one of our city’s finest.”
The last New Orleans Police Department officer killed in the line of duty was Officer Rodney Thomas on July 7, 2013, according to Gamble. More recently, a Housing Authority police officer, James Bennett Jr., 45, was found shot to death in his patrol car.