BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
An Opelousas police officer has apparently become a fugitive from justice.
Local authorities said on Friday that they are searching for Savannah Butler, 42, who is accused of allegedly firing shots from her home near Opelousas during a Dec. 22 incident which left Opelousas police chief Graig LeBlanc and his wife Crystal LeBlanc hospitalized with separate gunshot injuries.
St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz said on Friday that deputies are looking for Butler in order to issue a warrant for her arrest in connection with the shooting incident that investigators are labeling a domestic issue.
Butler is being sought by deputies on multiple felony charges that include negligent injury, obstruction of justice and use of a firearm, Guidroz said on Friday.
Guidroz also said that the Sheriff Department now plans to enter Butler’s name into the National Crime Information Center database in case Butler is located in a jurisdiction outside St. Landry so an arrest can be made.
Butler, who like Graig LeBlanc once worked as a St Landry deputy, was questioned by Sheriff Department investigators shortly after the Dec. 22 shooting, but she was later released.
Graig LeBlanc sustained a hand injury from a round allegedly discharged from the weapon Butler is accused of using, while Crystal LeBlanc, who is employed by the Sheriff’s Department, received a wound to her arm, according to investigative reports connected to the incident.
KADN news reported in a Friday story that Butler and Crystal LeBlanc were engaged in an argument before the firearm discharged.
