In the quiet community of Westwego, Louisiana, a gathering to watch the Super Bowl on the evening of February 13, 2022, turned into a scene of tragedy. Inside a home on the 600 block of Emile Avenue, amidst a group of friends, 50-year-old Charles Woodrow McGehee Sr. was fatally shot. The sudden eruption of violence also left another man, aged 28, wounded.
The group had been enjoying the game, the room illuminated by a single light bulb connected by an extension cord.
A momentary power outage plunged the room into darkness, and in the confusion that followed, gunshots rang out. When the light returned, McGehee and the other victim had been shot.
In the aftermath of the shooting, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office identified Curtis Thomas III as the suspect. He was subsequently arrested and booked with one count of second-degree murder for the death of Charles McGehee and one count of attempted second-degree murder for the injury of the second victim.
The legal proceedings that followed brought the case to a conclusion. Curtis Thomas III was tried and convicted for his role in the fatal shooting. He received a life sentence for the second-degree murder of Charles McGehee, along with additional time for the attempted murder and for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
