7 arrested in La. deputy shooting

• A Louisiana sheriff's deputy directing traffic was shot and wounded, police have said
• A short time later, 2 responding deputies die and another is hurt in a nearby shooting
• Police announce that 7 suspects have been arrested, charged so far in the first incident
• The community will honor the slain officers Friday with a vigil and moment of silence

(CNN) -- Four men and three women have been arrested in connection with shootings that left two Louisiana sheriff's deputies dead and two others wounded, police said Friday.

Their arrests, and the preliminary charges they are facing, follow a pair of apparently linked shootings early Thursday in LaPlace, a community of about 30,000 people located roughly 25 miles west of New Orleans.

Five of those arrested are now in jail, while the two others remain hospitalized for treatment of gunshot wounds, Louisiana State Police spokesman Melissa Matey said Friday.

All the charges levied against the suspects, thus far, apply to the first shooting that occurred around 5 a.m. in the parking lot at the Bayou Steel plant in LaPlace, according to police.

A man there shot Deputy Michael Boyington from the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff's Office -- who was directing traffic at the time -- several times, Sheriff Michael Tregre said Thursday. Despite his injuries, Boyington told dispatchers about the suspect and that description, along with a civilian report of a speeding car, led responding officers to a nearby trailer park, the sheriff said.

Boyington, who was shot in the shoulder and is expected to survive, was awake and talking Thursday at University Hospital in New Orleans, according to a law enforcement source who was not authorized to speak on the record.

Brian Lyn Smith, 24, will be charged with attempted first degree murder of a police officer tied to Boyington's shooting, police said.

Four others -- 44-year-old Terry Smith, 22-year-old Derrick Smith, 28-year-old Kyle David Joekel and 21-year-old Teniecha Bright -- each face charges of being a principal to attempted first degree murder of a police officer. Chanel Skains, 37, and Brittney Keith, 23, have been charged with being an accessory after the fact to attempted first degree murder of a police murder, authorities said.

Brian Smith and Joekel will be formally charged after their release from the hospital, according to information released Friday by the parish sheriff's office.

All those facing charges lived in one of three nearby addresses on the same street in LaPlace. And they all could face additional charges tied to the second shooting last Thursday at a trailer park not far from the steel plant.

In that incident, deputies who had gone there to investigate the initial shooting were questioning two people when a man ambushed them, Tregre said.

Multiple weapons were used and at least 20 shots were fired in this shooting, said Louisiana State Police Col. Mike Edmonson.

St. John the Baptist Sheriff's Deputies Brandon Nielsen, 34, and Jeremy Triche, 28, were killed in the gunfire. Nielsen was married with five children and Triche had a wife and a 2-year-old son, Tregre told reporters.

Deputy Jason Triche -- who is not related to Jeremy Triche -- was wounded in that shooting, according to Louisiana State Trooper Evan Harrell.

The slain and wounded sheriff's deputies will be honored Friday at a candlelight vigil, which starts at 8 p.m. (9 p.m. ET) in front of the Percy Hebert Building in LaPlace, Tregre told reporters Friday.

In addition, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans will be lit in blue Friday night and there will be a moment of silence to remember Nielsen and Jeremy Triche before the New Orleans Saints take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in an NFL pre-season game, according to the sheriff.

CNN's Rick Martin contributed to this report.