VILLE PLATTE, La. (AP) — Authorities were probing the deaths Wednesday of two unarmed state investigators shot dead by a troubled small-town insurance agent whose office they were paying a visit. The man who had been accused previously of fraud then took his own life after barricading himself in his office.
More than 100 law enforcement officers, including a SWAT team and negotiators, surrounded the two-story brick building for hours Tuesday before sending in a robot. The robot took pictures of John Melvin Lavergne's body and SWAT members soon burst in to find him dead of a self-inflicted wound, state police said.
Investigators believe Lavergne shot the man and woman about 1 p.m. after they'd come to collect information at his office, said Louisiana State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson. Killed were veteran insurance fraud investigators Rhett Jeansonne and Kim Sledge, said Insurance Department Commissioner Jim Donelon. The pair didn't have guns.
Authorities say Lavergne had been in business for almost 40 years — but had a history of troubles. The state Department of Insurance in 2009 had suspended Lavergne's insurance license and fined him $16,500, saying he provided fraudulent proofs of vehicle insurance several times. He was 64 at the time.
In January, state police arrested Lavergne and charged him with unfair trade practices. In October 2010, police received complaints that Lavergne was not sending payments from his customers to their insurance companies, according to a news release. As a result, at least four customers had seven of their policies cancelled, police said.
Motorist Cynthia Doucet said she saw Jeansonne lying outside the insurance office as she was driving by. She approached him with several others hoping to help.
"The man said he couldn't breathe and he was hollering for help," she said. "I went closer to the man and I see this lady lying inside the door and she was looking like she was dead."
Afterward, shattered glass littered the sidewalk in front of the office and blood smears were on the metal door jamb and on the dingy linoleum just inside door.
Charlene Adcock, 54, of Ville Platte, said she and her boyfriend had been Lavergne's customers for many years, but stopped doing business with him after some problems.
"Both me and my boyfriend, we'd go to get our driver's license renewed, and we'd have flags on our insurance" that meant it had been cancelled, she said.
When they complained to Lavergne, he would fix it, but then it happened again, she said.
Residents say Lavergne and other members of his family owned several businesses in the city of about 8,000 some 70 miles west of Baton Rouge.
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Associated Press writer Mary Foster contributed to this report from New Orleans.