An 18-year-old African American male named Javaria Taylor tragically lost his life on January 6, 2017, in Shreveport, Louisiana. His death was the result of a violent encounter with law enforcement. Caddo Parish Sheriff's Deputies were attempting to serve a warrant at the Foxborough Apartments located in the 8200 block of Pines Road. At approximately 1:53 p.m., an exchange of gunfire took place, during which Taylor was fatally wounded and pronounced dead at the scene.
The Caddo Parish Coroner's Office later confirmed his identity.
During the shootout, a Caddo Parish Sheriff's Deputy sustained non-life-threatening injuries. The investigation that followed revealed that Taylor had a criminal history, including a guilty plea to a gun charge in the September prior to his death, for which he had received a suspended three-year sentence. The Louisiana State Police took over the investigation into the officer-involved shooting to ensure an impartial review of the events that transpired. The incident marked the seventh homicide in Shreveport for that year.
Adding another layer to the case, a woman who was with Taylor at the time of the incident, Mikala Jefferson, was arrested. Jefferson was charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. The specifics of her involvement and the details of the murder to which she was an alleged accessory were part of the ongoing investigation. The death of Javaria Taylor and the subsequent arrest of Jefferson highlighted the persistent challenges of gun violence within the Shreveport community.
It is important to note that online sources also report on the death of another individual named Javaria Taylor in Shreveport. This 18-year-old's body was discovered on West 73rd Street between Union and Clift avenues on January 7, 2017, just before 1:30 p.m. He had sustained multiple gunshot wounds, and his death was investigated as the city's first gun-related murder of that year. An autopsy was pending to determine the exact cause of death in that case.
