On the night of September 19, 2020, 18-year-old Damian James George, a male from Lafayette, Louisiana, was fatally shot outside a convenience store on North University Avenue. The incident unfolded at approximately 10:30 p.m. after George had made a stop at the store.
Authorities reported that Kendell Ledet, who was 17 at the time, saw George at the convenience store and waited for him to come out. As George exited the building, Ledet opened fire with a.
40 caliber pistol, striking him six times. Damian James George succumbed to his injuries at the scene. Four days later, on September 23, 2020, the U.S. Marshall's Violent Offender Task Force located and arrested Kendell Ledet in East Baton Rouge Parish.
In February 2025, a jury in Lafayette Parish found Kendell Ledet, by then 21 years old, guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Damian George. The conviction carried an automatic sentence of life in prison. Another individual, Donnique Leopaul, was also implicated in the case. In February 2024, Leopaul entered a guilty plea to a reduced charge of obstruction of justice and was subsequently sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. A third person, Joshua Chevalier, initially faced a charge of principal to murder, but this charge was dismissed by the District Attorney in July of 2021.
