On the night of August 5, 2021, a 19-year-old male college student named Hassan Veal was tragically killed in Marrero, Louisiana. Veal, who was a graduate of the New Orleans Military & Maritime Academy and was studying petroleum engineering at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, was lured to Pard Playground under the pretense of purchasing a firearm. The transaction, however, was a setup for a robbery that would ultimately cost him his life.
He was shot nine times, including once in the face.
The events leading to Veal's death began when he arranged to buy a gun from 19-year-old Elijah Augustus. Veal had already sent a payment of $666 through a mobile app. When he arrived at the playground around 10:30 p.m. to collect the weapon, he was ambushed by three men. Surveillance footage showed two men, later identified as Augustus and 30-year-old Trenton Tatum, hiding near a fence before rushing Veal as he approached their vehicle. A third man, 20-year-old Tyron Edwards, who was in the car, blocked Veal with the door and fired a shot into the air. When the assailants found no other property to steal from Veal, they shot him.
An investigation by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office led to the swift arrests of the three suspects. A crucial piece of evidence was a phone dropped at the scene by Edwards as he was searching Veal's pockets. The investigation revealed that Augustus had orchestrated the fatal robbery.
All three men faced charges for their involvement in Hassan Veal's death. Tyron Edwards pleaded guilty to manslaughter and conspiracy to commit armed robbery on September 10, 2024, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Evidence indicated that while Edwards fired a shot, it was not at Veal. Elijah Augustus and Trenton Tatum were convicted of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit armed robbery. On February 5, 2025, a Jefferson Parish judge sentenced both Augustus and Tatum to life in prison. During the sentencing, Veal's family and his high school history teacher gave emotional victim-impact statements, remembering him as a 'bright light' with a promising future.
