Kendall C. “Geezy” Williams, 21, was killed on Monday, March 4, 2013, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was a Black man, and that night ended in sudden violence in the Uptown neighborhood, where the 4100 block of Washington Avenue became the place his life was cut short.
Police said Williams was found shot to death at the scene. In the same burst of gunfire, a second man was also struck and rushed to a hospital, expected to survive with injuries described as not life-threatening.
In the days that followed, the neighborhood was left with the kind of lingering quiet that comes after sirens fade—questions hanging in the air, and people trying to piece together who had been there, who had seen what, and why the shooter had chosen that moment.
Investigators worked the case publicly, asking for help as they searched for the gunman. Police released photographs connected to the shooting and later circulated surveillance images of a man they described as a person of interest—someone they believed could have critical information about what happened on Washington Avenue. Tips were directed to Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111, as detectives tried to turn a grainy image and a scattered timeline into a name, an arrest, and answers.
While the investigation pushed forward, Williams’ family prepared to bury him. His obituary described him as a young father, leaving behind a son, along with parents, siblings, extended relatives, and friends who gathered for a Celebration of Life service a few days later in New Orleans. The public trail in the case centered on the search for the gunman and the person of interest shown in surveillance photos, but for those who loved him, the story narrowed to an absence at the heart of the family—another chair left empty, another voice gone, and a life remembered by a nickname that still sounded too young to be written in the past tense.
