A Luling man is being held in the St. John the Baptist Parish jail after he shot another man in the ankle following an altercation on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. Walter Roman Celestine, 22, of Luling was arrested and booked with aggravated second degree battery (felony), illegal use of weapons or dangerous instrumentalities and violation of protective orders (felony).
On Wednesday at 6:49 p.m. St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a home in the 5300 block of Highway 18 in Wallace in reference to a man being shot. Once on scene, deputies found a 19-year-old man sitting on the porch with a gunshot wound to his right ankle. He was accompanied by a woman, 18, who was holding a towel around his ankle.
The suspected shooter was identified as Celestine. While deputies were on scene, Celestine was seen running into a nearby wooded area and refused the officer’s verbal commands to stop.
St. John deputies were able to locate Celestine in the woods with the use of a SJSO drone. Celestine was arrested without further incident.