On January 26, 2019, a gunman shot and killed five people in Ascension and Livingston parishes, Louisiana, before being taken into custody in Virginia.
[citation needed] A few weeks prior to the incident, Dakota Theriot was taken in by his girlfriend's family, after being kicked out by his own parents.
At a court hearing seeking a protective order against Theriot, she alleged that he not only choked, punched, and slapped her, but also broke her wrist when he threw her through a window.
[14] Theriot confessed to the shooting soon after his arrest, saying that he did it in "pure, cold blood," according to a deputy who testified in court.
[15] His lawyers asked for the Ascension Parish judge to halt proceedings until sources of funding can be found for his defense, as they have been working pro bono for the past month and that Theriot is indigent.