(AMITE)---Two Amite men have been charged in connection with a case where they allegedly wanted to burglarize a few houses, got into a shootout with a homeowner, and caused an air/ground search of a wooded area before being captured, according to the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office.

Tangipahoa Sheriff Daniel Edwards reports that 18-year-old Carl Jejune Chester and 18-year-old Edward Q. Johnson have been charged with attempted first degree murder and aggravated burglary.

The incident and resulting search began in the mid-morning hours of Tuesday, January 6, in the 13400 block of Cane Break Drive near Amite. The sheriff says that deputies responded to a call concerning suspicious suspects standing in a doorway.

Deputies determined that two black males, later identified as Chester and Johnson, rang a door bell several times, with one standing on a patio with his hand on the door knob. The victim told deputies that the suspect asked for a "Thomas" and was told no one by that name lived there. The victim told deputies that the black male met another black male and began to walk in an unknown direction.

Deputies say the victim stated that her husband came home and confronted the pair, calling the sheriff's office. Sheriff Edwards says that, at that point, shots were fired by both the suspects and the homeowner, with no one being wounded. The sheriff adds that the suspects fled into the woods nearby.

K-9 units, a helicopter from the U. S. Customs Service, and other deputies surrounded the area and began searching for Chester and Johnson, with the helicopter crew spotting the pair lying on the ground behind a small hill in the woods. Ground deputies responded, surrounded Chester and Johnson, and took them into custody.

As the investigation continued, deputies recovered six empty casings from a .380 handgun. Sheriff Edwards says that they learned that Chester and Johnson allegedly decided to "go on a mission of robbing houses." He adds that Johnson is also a suspect in other day-time burglaries in the area.

The sheriff also says that the investigation is continuing and more charges may be pending.

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