Robbery suspect arrested after 8.5 hour standoff
PRAIRIEVILLE - News 2 has learned new details about the criminal history of a robbery suspect who was taken into custody after 8.5 hour standoff with deputies in Ascension Parish.
#BREAKING After 8.5 hour standoff, Matthew Morris is in custody. @AscensionSherif deputies entered the house and arrested him. @WBRZ
— BrettBuffingtonWBRZ (@BrettBuffington) May 12, 2016
U.S. Marshals surrounded the home on White Road in Prairieville. The situation began around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. Deputies spent hours negotiating with Morris before using tear gas and eventually busting in the home to apprehend him just after midnight.
Deputies found Morris hiding in the attic and say he attempted to cut himself on the way out.
Morris cut himself inside the home, deputies have taken the man directly to a waiting ambulance. Morris was hiding in the homes attic.
— BrettBuffingtonWBRZ (@BrettBuffington) May 12, 2016
Deputies used gas to get Morris out of the home. I'm told he tried to cut his wrist on the way out and was shot with a beanbag round. @WBRZ
— BrettBuffingtonWBRZ (@BrettBuffington) May 12, 2016
Trending News
This situation took place because of a robbery that occurred Monday morning at the Chevron station in the 7500 block of Florida Blvd. in Baton Rouge. Two suspects were caught on surveillance video walking into the store while the clerk was counting money for the store's deposit.
Investigators say a female suspect distracted the clerk, while a male suspect snatched money from the clerk's hand. The two suspects fled with an undisclosed amount of cash in a white Toyota Prius.
Deputies say the two people in the video are Morris and his 24-year-old girlfriend Ashlyn Litty. She was in the Praireiville home when the standoff began Wednesday, but Morris let her out before barricading himself inside. She was arrested by APSO.
Lt. Col. Bobby Webre told News 2's Brett Buffington that Morris has an extensive criminal history that includes 11 arrests in Ascension Parish and 7 others in surrounding parishes. The crimes include drug and armed robbery charges.
The Investigative Unit has also learned this isn't the first time Morris has been in a standoff with law enforcement. According to an ABC affiliate in Indiana, Morris barricaded himself on the roof of an Auto Zone in Fort Wayne after he was accused of shoplifting from a Walmart in October 2015.
Police say he told them that he was armed and threatened to kill himself. Businesses and roads surrounding the store were shutdown and noise-making devices were used so law enforcement could storm the building and arrest him. In that case he was held as a fugitive warrant out of Louisiana.
Deputies used 8 rounds of tear gas before entering the home and taking Morris into custody.
JUST IN: picture of deputies taking Matthew Morris in to custody. courtesy of @AscensionSherif More on @WBRZ pic.twitter.com/Va8rycH3Zg
— BrettBuffingtonWBRZ (@BrettBuffington) May 12, 2016
Check back for updates.