LAFAYETTE (KPEL News) - The Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office has arrested a man suspected of murder over the weekend.

According to a release from LPSO, the victim, Raul de Jesus Ortiz, was found on Sunday morning and detectives were dispatched to the scene. There was an investigation that led to the arrest of a man who identified himself as 24-year-old Jose Nickolas Venture.

Credit: Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office
Credit: Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office
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The sheriff's department has stated they are looking into confirming his identity. He was booked into the Lafayette Parish Detention Center and charged with Second Degree Murder.

Violent Crime In Lafayette

There have been concerns regarding the rise of violent crime across the state and country. In Louisiana, Rep. Alan Seabaugh is looking at forming a task force to study and combat the rise of violent crime in Louisiana.

In Lafayette, however, the spikes you may be seeing elsewhere in the state don't appear to be as high.

Violent crime reports to the sheriff's office in 2021 were down more than one-third of what they were in 2018, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report. For the city of Lafayette, reports were up just slightly between 2018 and 2020 (the UCR does not currently have the full data from the Lafayette Police Department, according to the UCR site).

However, there have been some high-profile violent crimes that have shaken the community.

A month ago, 36-year-old Andres Jamal Felix killed three before taking his own life. Aside from Lafayette, there have been a number of high-profile homicides across the region, some with ties to Lafayette.

List of Homicides and Deaths in Acadiana for 2022

There have been multiple homicides in Acadiana for 2022. The following is a list, by parish, of each of the homicides and deaths that have happened so far this year. It is astounding the number of deaths in our area this year. Multiple deaths due to shootings have happened this year along with several hit-and-run deaths.

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