In the late hours of October 19, 2015, a 15-year-old male named Kevin Thomas Jr. was tragically killed in Westwego, Louisiana. The incident unfolded at the Tanglewood apartment complex located in the 1000 block of Sycamore Drive. Kevin, a student at L.W. Higgins High School, was lured out of his family's apartment under the pretense of a marijuana transaction.
As he was talking with several other individuals in the parking lot, an altercation occurred, and Kevin attempted to flee back to
the safety of his home. It was then that he was shot multiple times in the back. Despite his efforts to escape the gunfire and retreat up the stairs to his apartment, he collapsed in the living room and died in his mother's arms. Emergency calls were made, one reporting gunshots in the area and another from Kevin's mother, but by the time authorities arrived, he was pronounced dead at the scene. The motive for the shooting was later determined to be retaliation for an allegedly stolen gun.
The investigation into Kevin's death led to the arrest of two 16-year-old boys who were each booked with second-degree murder. One of the suspects was apprehended at his mother's home in Kenner, while the other turned himself in to the police. One of the teens, Chamid Davis, who was 16 at the time of the murder, was ultimately convicted of second-degree murder in March 2018. The following month, Davis, then 19, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving 25 years, a consideration given because he was a minor at the time of the offense. During the sentencing, Kevin's mother provided a powerful impact statement, telling Davis, 'You destroyed a whole family, not only ours, but yours'.
