In the early morning hours of October 5, 2015, the quiet of a LaPlace, Louisiana neighborhood was shattered by a hail of gunfire that would leave two cousins dead and another man wounded. Travis Gregoire, a 23-year-old male, was killed in the triple shooting that occurred at a residence on State Street. The violent encounter also claimed the life of his 18-year-old cousin, Sierra Gregoire, and injured a third male victim.
Responding to a call around 2 a.m., deputies arrived at the scene
to find a chaotic and tragic situation. Travis Gregoire was discovered in the passenger side of a vehicle and was pronounced dead at a local hospital shortly thereafter. Sierra Gregoire was found collapsed near an adjacent house and was rushed to a hospital in New Orleans, but she succumbed to her injuries later that evening. The third victim, who was also shot, was driven to the hospital by a neighbor and survived.
For nearly three years, the case remained at the forefront for St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff's Office detectives, who refused to let it go cold. Their persistent investigation eventually led them to identify Djuan Mackey, a 26-year-old from Gretna with a criminal history of firearms and drug-related violations, as a suspect in the fatal shooting. Investigators believe Mackey was one of the shooters in what they suspect may have been a case of mistaken identity.
In May 2018, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, Djuan Mackey was arrested without incident at a residence in Slidell. He was subsequently jailed on two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted second-degree murder. The arrest brought a long-awaited sense of progress for the families and the community, though the motive behind the senseless act of violence continued to be a subject of investigation. Law enforcement expressed hope that the arrest would encourage more witnesses to come forward with information.
