Deputy U.S. marshal shot dead in Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A deputy U.S. marshal was killed in Louisiana on Tuesday in an exchange of gunfire with a fugitive wanted in connection with a double homicide, the U.S. Marshals Service said. Deputy U.S. Marshal Josie Wells, 27, was part of a team executing a warrant on the suspect, identified by authorities as Jamie Croom, at a local motel. He was taken by his partner to a Baton Rouge-area hospital, where he was pronounced dead at noon, said Shane Evans, chief of investigations for the East Baton Rouge Coroner's Office. Croom was shot and wounded in the incident and is in custody, authorities said. His condition was not immediately clear. Croom was wanted in connection with the shooting deaths last month of a brother and sister outside a nightclub in New Roads near Baton Route, the Baton Rouge Advocate newspaper reported. Wells joined the U.S. Marshals Service in 2011. (Reporting by Jonathan Kaminsky in New Orleans; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Eric Beech and Sandra Maler)