Second bank robber found guilty

Published 8:17 am Wednesday, August 22, 2012

The second of two suspects in the April 2011 armed robbery of the Capital One Bank on Columbia Street in Bogalusa, which ended after a 12-mile chase during which shots were fired, was convicted of most charges on Monday.

After about two and a half hours of deliberation a week after it was seated, a jury found Logan N. Mills, 24, of Covington, guilty of the armed robbery of a bank, armed robbery with a gun, attempted first-degree murder of police officer Patrick Lyons, attempted first-degree murder of police officer Scott Seals, and aggravated obstruction of a highway.

He was acquitted on a charge of attempted first-degree murder of officer Chad Cassard, whose police unit was reportedly not actually hit by bullets.

Earlier this month, Mills’ accomplice, Walter Roy Aswell III, 23, of Mandeville, pled guilty as charged to armed robbery, armed robbery with a gun, three counts of attempted murder of a police officer, and aggravated obstruction of a highway.

He was due to be sentenced on Friday, but was not because the Mills trial was still in process.

The two allegedly stole a Jeep from a gated community in the Mandeville area in the wee hours of the morning and six hours later pulled up to the Bogalusa bank wearing ski masks and gloves. They ordered the teller, at gunpoint, to give them money, then fled in the stolen vehicle, through town to Louisiana Highway 10 and into Mississippi.

Bogalusa police officers received and returned gunfire as they chased the suspect vehicle. No officers were injured, but both suspects ended up in the hospital for treatment of gunshot wounds.