On a Saturday afternoon in New Orleans, on October 8, 2016, Thomas Henry IV, a 36-year-old Black / African American man, was fatally shot. The incident occurred in the 3300 block of General Meyer Avenue in Algiers, outside the A&M Repair Mechanic Service where Henry was employed. At approximately 1:48 p.m., officers from the New Orleans Police Department's Fourth District responded to a call of an aggravated battery by shooting.
Upon arrival, they found Henry being treated by emergency medical services for multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to a local hospital where he ultimately succumbed to his injuries.
The subsequent investigation by homicide detectives led to the identification of two suspects. In November 2016, the New Orleans Police Department announced that they had obtained arrest warrants for Ageeta Locure, born in March 1977, and Ronnie Smith Jr., born in July 1994, on charges of second-degree murder. Authorities also publicly identified Tom Ledet as a person of interest, believing he might have pertinent information regarding the shooting, though he was not named as a suspect.
The search for the suspects extended beyond Louisiana, and in June 2017, both Locure and Smith were apprehended in Ferguson, Missouri. The arrests were the result of a collaborative effort between the NOPD's Violent Offenders Squad and the U.S. Marshals.
In July 2018, Aigetta Locure, then 41 years old, pleaded guilty to the charge of being an accessory to second-degree murder. She was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison by a Criminal District Judge. A few months later, in October 2018, Ronnie Smith Jr., then 24, pleaded guilty to amended charges of manslaughter and obstruction of justice. He was expected to receive a 30-year prison sentence, which was to be officially imposed after impact statements from Henry's family were heard by the court.
