Tragedy struck the Northside community over the weekend with the shooting death of 18-year-old Jo’Nathan Delacroix.
The incident, according to this report from The Advocate, occurred Saturday afternoon at Delacroix’s home, when his friend, 18-year-old Anthony Beloney, pointed a pistol in his direction and pulled the trigger thinking it was unloaded.
It wasn’t. Delacroix died from a gunshot to the face, and his friend, Beloney, was arrested by the Lafayette Police Department on charges of possessing marijuana and negligent homicide. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison.
Delacroix was a senior at Northside High School, and the starting point guard for the basketball team. At the school Monday, a memorial was held in the school’s gym during lunch, and according to The Advocate, additional counselors were brought on campus to help students grieving Delacroix’s tragic death.
From The Advocate's report:
Practice was canceled Monday for the high school’s Mighty Vikings basketball team, on which Delacroix — known to family, friends and teammates as “Joe” — was a starting point guard, KATC-TV reported.
Lafayette City-Parish Council Chairman Kenneth Boudreaux, who represents District 4, in which Delacroix’s home is located, said his effort last summer to launch a gun buyback program was meant to curtail this type of tragedy.
“This is what we were trying to avoid,” Boudreaux said Monday. “We failed. We failed because another kid has died.”
Police have not confirmed the gun’s origin. No further details were available Monday in the ongoing investigation.
“We have to know: How did this young man have this gun? Where are the parents on this issue?” Boudreaux said. “There’s no one who can defend what happened this weekend.”
As Delacroix’s funeral arrangements are being put in place, his friend, Beloney, remains in jail with a $25,000 bond.