Matthew Cetrone, 40-year-old man from Slidell, Louisiana, was wounded in a predawn shooting on May 30, 2021, after gunfire erupted at a home in the 58000 block of Lynn Road. Deputies responding just before 5 a.m. found him shot and rushed him to a hospital, but he died from his injuries. He was described as White in the information available for this case.
Investigators said the chaos began when a relative inside the residence, later identified as his cousin, Christopher Aaron Burns, stepped out firing multiple rounds from a gun. In the sudden, echoing burst of shots, Cetrone went outside to check what was happening—and was struck. Authorities have not publicly detailed what sparked the gunfire, describing the circumstances as unclear as the investigation unfolded.
Burns was arrested the same day and booked into the St. Tammany Parish Jail on a charge of second-degree murder, with law enforcement and local reporting consistently identifying him as the suspect in Cetrone’s killing. The case did not linger in the shadows for long: later that summer, prosecutors took it to a grand jury.
On August 18, 2021, a St. Tammany Parish grand jury indicted Christopher Aaron Burns for second-degree murder in connection with the May 30 killing, and also indicted him for possession of a Schedule II drug tied to the same date. Publicly available updates located in these sources describe the arrest and indictment, but do not provide a final court outcome such as a conviction or sentencing.
