three lights in the night sky with very unusual behavior.

When I was around 12 years old I was camping with about 5 other boys in a treehouse behind my house in destrehan, LA.We were laying on the roof, looking up at the sky, and puffing on cigarettes. Suddenly , what looked like a star began moving across the sky very fast in a straight line.  Another "star" in the same area began moving in a different direction but this one was zig zagging at impossible turns. Then a third one from again the same area began yet another direction and blinking on and off.  I dropped the cigarette I was holding and when I looked down to pick it up,, all the other boys began yelling at the same time "Did you see that?" They were all very excited and I looked up immediately but only saw what I have already described. I asked what they were talking about and they all began to chatter that one of the "lights" shot a red beam out from it to a light in the sky that it was passing (that light or star never moved). I am now 51 years old and really can't remember the specifics of the event like the exact year or month.  I do remember some of the boys with me and I am sure if located they would confirm my story and I also remember listening to the radio at breakfast the next morning and hearing a brief statement that UFO's were reported over the city of New Orleans the previous night (Destrehan is not far from New Orleans)so someone else must have seen what we saw. I have seen satalites and grown up as airplanes turned into jets.  I have never again seen anything able to move that fast or manuver the way these objects did.
Date is approximate.  PD