Covington Man Shoots Patrol Car & You Won't Believe the Rest of the Story!

The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office has arrested a Covington man after he shot a marked St.

Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office vehicle with a semi-automatic weapon. The marked unit was occupied by an STPSO sergeant at the time.

At approximately 9:50 p.m. on May 25, 2020, a St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office sergeant was seated in the driver’s seat of his marked patrol truck, which was parked outside a Sheriff’s Office building on Champagne Street, when a bullet entered through the truck’s rear window. The bullet traveled through the passenger seat headrest, narrowly missing the sergeant, before striking the front windshield and coming to rest on the truck’s dash.

On May 26, 2020, while investigating that incident, STPSO detectives conducted a search warrant on a residence on East Sharp Road in Covington. Narcotics and an AK47 pistol were confiscated as part of that search warrant, and Adrian Chatman (age 21) reportedly admitted to STPSO detectives that he had fired the weapon 17 times the night of May 25, 2020 from the intersection of Taylor Street and 31st Street in Covington.

Chatman was arrested and booked into the St. Tammany Parish Jail on the charges of Felon in Possession of a Firearm (two counts), Possession of a Firearm in the Presence of a Controlled Dangerous Substance (two counts), Illegal Discharge of a Firearm, Possession with the Intent to Distribute Schedule I, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He was released on May 27, 2020 after posting a $100,000 bond.

The AK47 pistol which was found in Chatman’s possession was sent to Jefferson Parish Crime Lab for ballistics testing. Those results proved the bullet that struck the occupied STPSO unit was indeed fired from that weapon, and STPSO detectives obtained a warrant for the arrest of Chatman for one count of Aggravated Criminal Damage.

The same firearm has been connected to two attempted murders, one in Tangipahoa Parish and one in the city limits of Covington.

Chatman was located at his residence during the early morning hours of June 5, 2020 and was taken into custody and booked into the St. Tammany Parish Jail on the warrant for Aggravated Criminal Damage.

The FBI and Covington Police Department assisted the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office in this investigation.