In the early evening of June 4, 2018, a dispute in a fast-food restaurant parking lot on Admiral Doyle Drive in New Iberia, Louisiana, turned deadly, claiming the life of 20-year-old Levonne Tevon Johnson. A male, Johnson was a recent graduate of West St. Mary High School and was attending Southwest Louisiana Community College at the time of his death. He was a father, leaving behind a young daughter.
Those who knew him described him as a sweet, well-mannered, and respectful young man.
The fatal encounter began after an argument between 17-year-old Jorie Walker and his girlfriend. When the girlfriend left, she took a pair of Walker's tennis shoes. Johnson, who was the girlfriend's cousin, arrived to pick her up. Later, Walker confronted Johnson under the belief that Johnson had stolen his shoes. The confrontation escalated, and Walker fatally shot Johnson multiple times. Walker later admitted to investigators that he shot Johnson after Johnson and the passengers in his car began laughing.
Authorities quickly identified Jorie Walker as the primary suspect in the shooting. He was arrested and subsequently charged with homicide. After a week-long trial in May 2021, an Iberia Parish jury unanimously found Jorie Walker guilty of the second-degree murder of Levonne Johnson. Walker, who was tried as an adult, faced a sentence of life in prison for the crime.
