In the late summer evening of August 20, 2019, the parking lot of the Knights Inn motel on West Monkhouse Drive in Shreveport, Louisiana, became the scene of a fatal shooting. Responding to a call, Shreveport Police officers discovered the body of 45-year-old Derrick Purnell Terrell, a resident of Shreveport, who had sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
He was pronounced deceased at the scene, and an autopsy was subsequently ordered.
The investigation into Terrell's death quickly led to the identification of multiple individuals believed to be involved. On August 22, 2019, authorities arrested 49-year-old Tamala Triciann Ware in connection with the murder. An arrest report indicated that surveillance footage showed Ware, who lived with Terrell, near his vehicle assisting two men in removing the license plate just moments before the shooting. The report also stated that Ware identified the two men as her friends.
Following Ware's arrest, the investigation identified 29-year-old Terence Felix Jr. and 34-year-old Johnathan Crenshaw as the two additional suspects. Warrants were issued for their arrest on charges of second-degree murder. On Monday, August 26, Terence Felix Jr. was apprehended in Abbeville, Louisiana. The following day, Johnathan Crenshaw was also taken into custody in Abbeville.
All three suspects, Tamala Ware, Terence Felix Jr., and Johnathan Crenshaw, were charged with second-degree murder. Ware was booked into the Caddo Correctional Center, while Felix and Crenshaw were initially held in the Vermilion Parish Jail before facing legal proceedings in Caddo Parish. Bond for Felix and Crenshaw was set at $750,000 each.
