Derrick “Slim” Reed was 34, a Black man, when his life ended on July 21, 2015, in Thibodaux, Louisiana. That summer night, gunfire erupted on Sanders Street, turning an ordinary stretch of the neighborhood into a blur of panic and headlights as people tried to make sense of what had just happened. Police were called to the 200 block of Sanders Street around 9 p.m., and Reed was counted among three victims taken to the hospital. He did not survive, dying at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center, while the other two wounded men lived.
Investigators described the attack as a drive-by shooting, and as detectives worked the case, the picture that emerged was not of a random tragedy but of a coordinated act with multiple people allegedly playing roles before and after the shots were fired. By the time the case was publicly updated in early September 2015, Thibodaux Police said three arrests had been made connected to the Sanders Street shooting that killed Reed and injured two others.
Police reported that Jordan Williams and Brian Gibson had already been arrested and booked on one count of second-degree murder and five counts of attempted second-degree murder, with each held on a $1.5 million bond. Days later, detectives arrested Kelsha Smith, saying she was an accessory after the fact because investigators learned she had been assisting Williams; police also noted she was additionally taken in on a warrant from the 32nd Judicial District Court for failing to appear on traffic offenses, and they listed a $100,000 bond.
Even with those arrests, authorities indicated they were still chasing unanswered questions and potential additional involvement. Thibodaux Police said there were still two persons of interest they wanted to locate—Cedrick Banks and Kenya Patterson—and they asked the public for information that could help detectives close the circle around everyone involved, whether the person pulled the trigger or helped afterward.
