BATON ROUGE – The man who shot a sheriff’s deputy early Sunday morning had a long criminal history and was released from federal prison earlier this year.

Bernard Ledlow, 39, shot at an East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s deputy around 7:30 Sunday morning when the deputy attempted to stop Ledlow who was driving in an erratic manner near the Airline and Pecue intersection. The sheriff’s office said the deputy thought Ledlow may be asleep at the wheel when he tried to stop him.

Instead of stopping, though, Ledlow ignored the deputy’s attempts at a traffic stop and a police chase ensued. During the pursuit, Ledlow fired shots at the deputy, shooting out a window of the deputy’s cruiser.

The deputy was injured when a bullet grazed their leg and was briefly hospitalized. The deputy was released from the hospital not long after being admitted.

The deputy was not identified.

Some seven miles from where the incident started, deputies said Ledlow wrecked his vehicle and ran into some woods along the Amite River near the end of Hoo Shoo Too Road and Kendalwood Road in East Baton Rouge.

Ledlow continued to fire at law enforcement, detectives said.

By 8 a.m. Sunday, the sheriff’s office had set up a perimeter in the area and evacuated homes along the street.

A six-hour manhunt ensued that ended with Ledlow being shot and killed.

Click HERE to watch the news conference with the sheriff held Sunday afternoon. 

Ledlow, of Gonzales, had recently finished a 17-year prison sentence for federal gun and drug convictions.

His criminal history includes 13 arrests and a conviction for a pair of felonies in Ascension Parish before his federal prison sentence, U.S. District Court filings show. The cases include a felony armed robbery conviction after Ledlow held up a Gonzales bar at gunpoint in 1999.

Ledlow was barred from having a gun.
He was on supervised release for the next three years following his stint in federal prison.

During Sunday's manhunt, EBRSO deployed a boat, helicopter, and K-9 team. The Louisiana State Police, Baton Rouge Police, St. George Fire Department, EMS, SWAT and the EBR Constable assisted in the manhunt.