Bogalusa mayor files police report following threat

Bogalusa Mayor Tyrin Truong held a press conference last Thursday to announce that he has filed a police report with the Bogalusa police department, district attorney and Louisiana State Police following what he is reporting as a threat on his life.

The threat to which Truong is referring was posted on Facebook on Wednesday, March 29.

According to Truong, the threat has racial undertones as it referenced a time in history when “black men’s bodies were dumped in bodies of water in the South by terrorists.”

The post stated, “yeah, the mayor better watch it because he ain’t too far from Lake Pontchartrain. When he gets off in the evening, he might be taking a little ride.”

As a precaution, Truong says that safety measures are being put in place. He announced that security cameras, a swipe card system and metal detectors are being installed at Bogalusa’s City Hall.

“Violence of any kind has no place in a civil society,” Truong said. “This is not a banana republic. Whether it’s me, a staffer, a code enforcement officer, the threat of violence for doing your job is simply unacceptable.

“If you want to come to a council meeting to throw a temper tantrum, if you want to post on a Facebook group to complain, be my guest. But once you threaten bodily harm to another person, you’ve gone too for.”

Truong continued saying, “But let’s not delude ourselves, threats like these are derived by constant lies, misinformation and propaganda. We must all do what we can to insure that these elements don’t thrive in this city.”

Truong, at 23, defeated a two-term incumbent to become mayor of the city of approximately 11,000 in November of 2022.

This article originally published in the April 3, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.