Suspect in Lacombe murder case apprehended near New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A fugitive accused of murdering a man in Lacombe last month was apprehended Friday (March 31) near New Orleans, authorities said.

Karnelius Coleman, 20, was booked into the Orleans Justice Center jail, pending a transfer into the custody of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, the STPSO said.

Court records show Coleman was in Orleans Parish custody in March 2022 on accusations of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and illegal possession of stolen things. Coleman was arrested on March 15, 2022, but was released a little more than three weeks later. He was freed after the office of Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams refused to prosecute the charges on April 7, 2022.

Eleven months later -- on March 18, 2023 -- authorities in St. Tammany Parish say Coleman fatally shot a man in the 61000 block of Brittany Drive, in the Briar Lake area of Lacombe. The STPSO has not disclosed the name or age of the man fatally shot.

Man shot, killed in Lacombe Saturday morning, police say

Federal agents from the US Marshals’ Fugitive Apprehension Task Force and the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) assisted in the arrest, which the STPSO said was accomplished “in the New Orleans area.”

There was no mention of New Orleans Police Department involvement in the arrest in a news release issued by Sheriff Randy Smith’s office.

The release said Coleman was booked into the Orleans jail as a fugitive on a warrant issued by Kenner Police “for an unrelated crime.” A hold was placed on him Friday night by the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office on a warrant for one count of second-degree murder.

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