A Mandeville officer shot and killed after a car chase has been identified as a decorated Marine veteran who leaves behind a wife and seven children, officials said Friday evening.
Capt. Vincent ‘Vinny’ Liberto Jr. was killed and another officer was wounded at the intersection of Causeway Boulevard and La. 22/U.S. 190.
🙏🏽Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and colleagues of Captain Vincent Liberto @MandevillePD who was shot and killed in the line of duty on September 20th, 2019 while following a vehicle pursuit. #FidelisAdMortem pic.twitter.com/wTSacaCxrj
— NYPD 30th Precinct (@NYPD30Pct) September 26, 2019
Liberto, 58, graduated from Brother Martin High School in New Orleans and served 10 years in the United States Marine Corps before he was honorably discharged as a sergeant.
Liberto joined the Mandeville Police Department in 1994 and was a graduate of the F.B.I. National Academy and had received several awards, Mandeville Police Chief Gerald Sticker said.
Capt. Vincent “Vinny” Liberto Jr. was remembered fondly with stories of his humor and love for his job >> https://t.co/m4HPlc05y9 pic.twitter.com/xIo0d9hkqO
— wdsu (@wdsu) September 27, 2019
Liberto is survived by a wife and seven children, some of whom are law enforcement officers or in the military, Sticker said.
The other wounded officer, who was not identified, was taken to an area hospital and was expected to recover. St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith had said earlier that the officer suffered a graze wound to the top of his head.
Friday’s funeral procession for slain Mandeville Police Capt. Vincent “Vinny” Liberto Jr. will take his body through the heart of Mandeville and past the police station where he worked for 25 years.
Get details & see processional route here: https://t.co/K1d96iWlUE pic.twitter.com/t3Yc77SGtF
— NOLA.com (@NOLAnews) September 27, 2019
“It’s a bad day for the Mandeville Police Department,” a somber Sticker said at a news conference earlier Friday.
Investigators were still at the scene Friday night, and State Police offered few details.
But Gov. John Bel Edwards told The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate that State Police told him the shooting followed a vehicle chase. And it appeared the crime scene included multiple locations in the area bounded by La. 22, Causeway Boulevard and the Beau Chene neighborhood.
“We have a wife that’s grieving. We have children that are grieving,” Sticker said.
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