Suspect in Ponchatoula death caught, wounded

PONCHATOULA, La. (AP) – An 18-year-old suspect who had been at large for more than a day after the shooting death of a woman near Ponchatoula was shot and wounded Wednesday after he was discovered hiding in the victim’s house.

Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards said during a televised news conference that Ryan Pourciau was armed and appeared to be lying in wait for other family members of the victim.

“If I’m going to try to hide I’m going to try to hide a whole bunch of other places before I go back to the victim’s house,” Edwards said when asked why he thought Pourciau was lying in wait.

Pourciau was hospitalized with what Edwards said was a non-life-threatening wound to the shoulder.

Edwards said investigators do not believe Pourciau was in the house the entire time he was at large. He said investigators are trying to determine how he got in.

Pourciau faces a first-degree murder charge in the Tuesday morning shooting of 39-year-old April Vanderlinden, the mother of a girl Pourciau knew.

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