In the turbulent backdrop of a violent night in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a promising young life was tragically cut short. Armajae Smith, a 17-year-old Black male, was fatally shot on the evening of September 25, 2017. The incident was one of at least five shootings that occurred in the city between that Monday night and the early hours of the following morning, a string of violence that left another man dead and several others wounded.
The shooting that claimed Armajae's life took place
just before 10:00 p.m. in the 6800 block of Cezanne Avenue. He was a student at Woodlawn High School. In the same attack, a 28-year-old man was also shot and sustained non-life-threatening injuries. He was subsequently transported to a local hospital for treatment. The motive for the shooting that ended the teenager's life remained unknown in the immediate aftermath, and it was unclear if the various shootings that plagued the city that night were connected.
In the wake of the violence, law enforcement officials appealed to the public for assistance, urging anyone with information to come forward to help them bring the perpetrators to justice. The then-Mayor-President of Baton Rouge, Sharon Weston Broome, visited the scene on Cezanne Avenue and released a statement decrying the gun violence and encouraging witnesses to cooperate with the police. Despite these pleas, there have been no publicly announced arrests or identification of suspects in connection with the murder of Armajae Smith. The case, like many others, has left a family and a community searching for answers and justice that have yet to be found.
