On the afternoon of June 26, 2021, a burst of gunfire shattered the calm of the Cedar Grove neighborhood in Shreveport, Louisiana, forever altering the lives of those involved. Keshun Cole, a 20-year-old Black/African American male, was driving his car when another vehicle pulled alongside him at the intersection of Union Avenue and West 62nd Street. A passenger in that vehicle opened fire, striking Cole.
The young man's car continued on, eventually crashing at the intersection of West 69th Street and Union Avenue. First responders arrived at the scene of the crash to find Cole gravely wounded inside his vehicle. He was rushed to Ochsner LSU Health for medical treatment, but tragically, he succumbed to his injuries later that same day.
The Shreveport Police Department immediately launched a homicide investigation into the shooting death of Keshun Cole. Their efforts led them to identify two suspects in connection with the fatal shooting. In October of 2021, a Caddo Parish grand jury returned indictments against 19-year-old Datavious Deon Simmons and 18-year-old Brandon Damon Glover for their alleged roles in Cole's death. Simmons was identified by the driver of the vehicle he was in as the individual who fired the shots that killed Cole.
In a significant development in the case, Datavious Simmons pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter on Monday, March 10, 2025, just as his trial was scheduled to commence. Following his guilty plea, Simmons was sentenced by a Caddo District Court judge to 18 years in prison at hard labor. The driver of the vehicle in which Simmons was a passenger was also convicted for his involvement in the killing and received a 10-year prison sentence for manslaughter. Another man, Joshua Thompson, was also implicated and charged with knowing about the crime and failing to report it.
