In the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans, on the evening of November 20, 2013, a violent encounter left two men dead. One of them was 22-year-old Kerry Pierre. He was discovered inside a residence in the 6000 block of LaFaye Street with a gunshot wound to the head around 9:25 p.m. Although still alive when authorities arrived, Pierre succumbed to his injuries approximately two hours later at a local hospital.
The other victim, 21-year-old Verdell Lewis, was found at the same location, having died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds.
The investigation into the double homicide took a significant turn when it was revealed that both Kerry Pierre and Verdell Lewis were being looked at by police as potential suspects in a separate, high-profile double murder that had occurred just a week prior. That case involved the shooting death of a father, Deshawn Butler, and his 7-month-old son, Deshawn Kinard, near the Crescent City Connection. This connection suggested a deeper, more complex motive behind the killings on LaFaye Street.
Within days of the murders of Pierre and Lewis, the New Orleans Police Department made arrests. One of the individuals taken into custody was Isaac Pierre, the 20-year-old brother of Kerry Pierre. Another suspect, 23-year-old Kevin Thomas, was also apprehended. Both men were located and arrested in the 5100 block of Franklin Avenue, and police indicated they had been at the house on LaFaye Street shortly before their capture.
The legal proceedings continued to unfold in the following months. In February 2014, another man, Robert Garrett, was arrested and booked in connection with the murders of Pierre and Lewis. Garrett had been questioned by police earlier in the investigation but was initially released. An Orleans Parish judge later set his bond at $1 million. The arrests of these three men marked significant progress in a case that was intertwined with another tragic shooting, leaving a trail of violence and loss in its wake.
