A man accused of a violent Bogalusa crime spree in 2021 that included the fatal shooting of a student walking home, a non-fatal shooting of a boy exiting a school bus and a house being sprayed with gunfire from an AK-47 has been convicted on multiple charges, including second-degree murder.
Andrew Pernell, 21, and two others were accused of gunning down Bogalusa High School senior Aaron Brown on Aug. 23, 2021, as Brown walked home from school. Brown was shot multiple times and died on the street near a Bogalusa beauty salon.
A few weeks later, as Pernell drove along Main Street in Bogalusa, he fired at least 18 rounds from an AK-47 at a home, prosecutors said. Bogalusa police captured Pernell about a week later after he fired at least nine rounds at a 13-year-old boy stepping off a school bus, then crashed his car as he sped away from the scene.
Andrew Pernell
Following a five-day trial, a jury in Washington Parish deliberated all of 27 minutes on June 28 before returning the guilty verdicts against Pernell on multiple charges, including second-degree murder and assault by drive-by shooting, the northshore District Attorney's Office said. Pernell laughed when the verdicts were read in the courtroom, the DA's Office said.
Second-degree murder carries a life sentence. Judge Ellen Creel of the 22nd Judicial District will formally sentence Pernell in September.
The shootings were part of an uptick in violent crime in Washington Parish in 2021 and 2022. Authorities said earlier this year that violent crime had slowed heading into 2024.
During Pernell's trial, prosecutors Tiffany Dover and Elizabeth Authement called 27 witnesses and described Pernell as a one-person crime wave, according to the DA's Office. The Bogalusa Police Department and the Louisiana State Police investigated the crimes.
"Kids deserve to be able to go to and from school without worrying about being executed," Dover told the jury during her closing statements.
Investigators searching Pernell's home found the AK-47 they allege he used to shoot up the house on Main Street, the DA's Office said. Investigators also found a 9mm handgun in a wooded area near the shooting of the 13-year-old boy that ballistics tests confirmed was the weapon used in that crime. Pernell's DNA was also on the gun, the DA's Office said.
That victim survived but has faced extensive physical rehabilitation, the DA's Office said.
Detectives seized Pernell's cell phone and recovered text messages showing how he obtained the AR-15 rifle used to kill Brown and the AK-47. They also found text messages from Pernell to another man on the day that Brown was fatally shot that appeared to detail plans to shoot someone, with Pernell saying he had an "AR" and needed a "body," the DA's Office said.
Pernell later sold the AR-15 for $500. The DA's Office said detectives located the new owner in Mississippi and recovered the rifle.