Two deputies killed, two wounded in Louisiana shooting

(CNN) - Two sheriff's deputies died and two were wounded in a series of apparently linked shootings early Thursday in LaPlace, Louisiana, authorities said.

The first shooting happened in a parking lot at a steel plant in LaPlace, about 25 miles west of New Orleans, St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff Mike Tregre said. The second happened when the deputies went to a nearby trailer park to investigate the first shooting and were ambushed by a man armed with what Tregre described as an assault rifle, he said.

In addition to the two wounded deputies, two of the five people taken into custody were hospitalized with gunshot wounds, Louisiana State Trooper Melissa Matey said. Tregre said investigators were still sorting out what role those detained may have had in the shootings.

One of the wounded officers -- whom the sheriff identified as Deputy Scott Boyington -- was shot in the shoulder and is expected to survive, a law enforcement source in Louisiana told CNN. Boyington is awake and talking at University Hospital in New Orleans, according to the source, who was not authorized to speak on the record.

One of the wounded suspects suffered life-threatening injuries, but was expected to survive after treatment at the same hospital, according to the source. The other was being treated at Ochsner Medical Center in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, Matey said.

Louisiana State Police have taken over the investigation, Tregre said. Although investigators are still working what he described as a "semi-hot scene," they do not believe anyone else involved in the shooting is at large, he said.

Tregre identified the dead as Deputies Brandon Neilsen, 34, and Jeremy Triche, 28. The sheriff's department identified the second wounded deputy as Jason Triche; it was not immediately clear whether he was related to Jeremy Triche.

The shootings unfolded around 5 a.m. in the parking lot at the Bayou Steel Plant in LaPlace, when a man opened fire on Boyington, according to the St. John Sheriff's Department.

Despite being shot multiple times, Boyington was able to describe the suspect to dispatchers, Tregre said. That description, along with a civilian report of a speeding car, led responding officers to a nearby trailer park, he said.

As deputies were questioning two people, a man came outside and "ambushed my two officers," Tregre said. Authorities were investigating whether the same weapon was used at both shooting sites, he said.