Taurean Vashun Coleman, a 19-year-old male, was fatally shot on the afternoon of March 7, 2022, at Anderson Island Park in Shreveport, Louisiana. The incident occurred on a basketball court where Coleman was shot multiple times in his upper body and was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to police reports, the shooting stemmed from a verbal dispute over a cell phone. Witnesses at the park reported seeing several men flee the scene in a white sedan shortly after the gunshots.
The investigation quickly led to a suspect, 18-year-old Andre Deshun Gladney, who turned himself in to the Shreveport Police later the same day. Gladney was subsequently arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection with Coleman's death.
During the investigation, it was revealed that Gladney and Coleman had been friends since middle school. In August 2025, Andre Gladney, then 22, was put on trial for the murder of Taurean Coleman. Prosecutors presented evidence that Coleman had been shot eight times, with six of those shots being in his back. DNA evidence linked Gladney to the firearm used in the shooting, and Coleman's blood was found on Gladney's jacket.
Gladney claimed that he acted in self-defense, stating that he believed Coleman was going to harm him. However, investigators testified that Coleman was unarmed at the time of the shooting. The Caddo Parish jury deliberated for less than an hour before unanimously finding Andre Deshun Gladney guilty of second-degree murder. Following his conviction, Gladney faced a mandatory life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.
