In the fall of 2022, a dispute that began over a simple dice game tragically cut short the life of Shanon Karon Young, Jr., a 22-year-old resident of Ponchatoula, Louisiana. The fatal encounter unfolded on November 21, 2022, not in Gretna as initially reported, but in the nearby community of Marrero. Young, who was employed as a correctional officer with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department, had a promising future, having been a celebrated football player at Edna Karr High School, where he
earned three championship rings. Compounding the tragedy, he had learned just two days before his death that he was going to be a father.
On that November day, Young was with a group of friends, including his longtime friend Larry Junior, helping another friend move into a home on Grovewood Drive. To pass the time during breaks, Young and Junior began playing dice for money. As the game progressed, Young was winning and began to tease Junior. The friendly banter took a turn when Junior made a remark about Young's younger sister, escalating the tension between the two men. The verbal sparring soon erupted into a physical altercation. The much larger Young, weighing nearly 225 pounds, reportedly threw the 140-pound Junior against a wall, causing damage to the drywall. Although a friend intervened to break up the fight, the conflict was far from over.
Sometime during the argument, Junior had contacted his girlfriend, Jenaj Nijay Johnson, and asked her to come and pick him up. After the physical fight, Junior fatally shot Shanon Young. Johnson then drove Junior away from the scene, and he disposed of the murder weapon in an attempt to hinder the investigation. The act of violence had devastating consequences, leaving a family to mourn and a child to be born without a father.
The subsequent investigation led to the arrests of both Larry Junior and Jenaj Nijay Johnson. In a court of law, the details of that day were laid bare. On July 11, 2024, a Jefferson Parish jury found Larry Junior, 24, of Marrero, guilty of second-degree murder. For his crime, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. He received an additional five-year sentence for obstruction of justice for his attempt to hide the murder weapon. Jenaj Nijay Johnson, 22, of Chalmette, pleaded guilty to the charge of accessory after the fact to second-degree murder for her role in helping Junior flee the scene. A judge sentenced her to one year of active probation.
