PIERRE PART — A shooting in Pierre Part that left three injured, including Assumption Parish Sheriff Leland Falcon, was an act of racial violence and is being investigated as a hate crime, sources told WBRZ on Friday.

The shooting happened on Bayou Drive on Thursday afternoon and involved two neighbors, the Assumption Parish Sheriff's Office said Thursday. 

Sources now tell WBRZ that one of the neighbors, a Black man who was cutting his grass, was shot after a racially charged conversation with his neighbor. Deputies, including Sheriff Falcon, then arrived and the neighbor who shot the Black man in the supposed hate crime began shooting at deputies, grazing the sheriff. 

On Thursday, after the shooting, a spokesperson said Falcon did not fire at the alleged shooter, but a deputy with him did, striking him. 

Both neighbors and Sheriff Falcon were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, officials said. 

"Assumption Parish Sheriff Leland Falcon and his entire family takes this opportunity to express their sincere appreciation and gratitude for the many phone calls and texts from well-wishers, concerned residents and the law enforcement community following the unfortunate events which occurred in Pierre Part yesterday afternoon," the sheriff's office said in a statement on Facebook on Friday. "Sheriff Falcon is asking everyone to keep all those affected by this tragedy in your thoughts and prayers."