The tireless efforts of one Jefferson Street business owner to find the man responsible for the recent early-morning assault on Andre Broussard has quickly morphed into an effort at making Downtown Lafayette safer.
The attack happened around 1:45 a.m. on Friday as Broussard — a graphic designer and local DJ who was also an INDStyle Awards inductee in 2012 — made his way home along Jefferson Street.
While passing in front of Frankie Burger during his trek down Jefferson, he’s said to have bumped into an unidentified person who would go on to follow the unsuspecting Broussard as he crossed the Vermilion Street intersection and continued down Jefferson. It was around the corner of Jefferson and Buchanan when Broussard realized he was being followed; shortly thereafter he was knocked out cold from a cheap shot to the left eye as he turned around to confront his tail.
After coming to, he managed to make it to the nearby home of a friend, a local lawyer, who initially was unable to recognize the badly beaten Broussard. She called for an ambulance, and Broussard was quickly taken to a local hospital where he remains in recovery and awaits more testing to determine whether he’s incurred any vision loss or other permanent injuries from the attack.
Broussard’s assault immediately stirred the efforts of Robert Guercio, owner of the Greenroom bar along Jefferson and vice president of the Downtown Lafayette Restaurant & Bar Association. On Saturday, Guercio spent much of the day investigating the scene of Broussard’s attack, scoping out exterior cameras of the businesses lining the path Broussard took on his way home that night. After going through hours and hours of surveillance footage, Guercio found what he was looking for, and an image has since spread on Facebook showing a man who is being described as a “person of interest” in Broussard’s attack.
Guercio says there is footage detailing the entire incident, telling KPEL965 that the suspect “put all of his weight into a punch,” hitting Broussard “square in the eyeball.” That footage, which was captured by a camera owned by an unnamed Jefferson Street business, will be handed over to local police sometime today [Monday].
For Guercio, Broussard’s attack illustrates a big problem facing Downtown.
“You think of doing something violent, you better think twice because we’re going to be after you,” Guercio tells KPEL, adding that a movement is afoot among Downtown business owners and residents to put an end to these types of incidents.
“Many private property owners have video surveillance, and we will be working in earnest to leverage these cameras to create a very strong deterrent,” says Guercio. “And those without any cameras outside will be encouraged to add them to supplement what the city can afford. There is a requested budget item to add more cameras Downtown now.”