In the early morning hours of July 12, 2015, the life of 18-year-old Makayla Jones, an African American female, was tragically cut short in a violent act that also claimed the lives of two others in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The incident, which unfolded around 1:30 a.m. in the 1000 block of North Donmoor Avenue, was determined by the Baton Rouge Police Department to be a murder-suicide.
Jones was discovered with fatal gunshot wounds, alongside 38-year-old Shawyn Lollis and the man
identified as the perpetrator, 20-year-old Marquiles Whaley. A fourth individual, a 36-year-old woman, was also seriously injured in the attack but survived. The investigation concluded that Whaley, who was in a relationship with Jones, was the sole person responsible for the deaths.
According to the findings of the East Baton Rouge Parish coroner, Dr. William “Beau” Clark, an autopsy revealed that Makayla Jones had been shot in the head and neck while she was in her bed. The investigation determined that Whaley first shot Lollis and Jones before turning the weapon on himself, ending his own life.
As the investigation concluded that the deaths were the result of a murder-suicide with the perpetrator deceased, no arrests were made in the case. The motives behind Whaley's violent actions have not been publicly detailed, leaving a community to mourn the senseless loss of life.
