In the early morning hours of July 12, 2015, the life of 38-year-old Shawyn Lollis, an African American male, was tragically cut short in a violent outburst on North Donmoor Avenue in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The incident, which unfolded before 1:30 a.m., was a grim murder-suicide that left two people dead and another seriously injured. Lollis, a resident of Baton Rouge who had attended Glen Oaks Senior High School, was a cherished son, father, and brother.
The perpetrator was identified
as 20-year-old Marquiles Whaley. In a devastating sequence of events, Whaley shot and killed both Shawyn Lollis and 18-year-old Makayla Jones, who was identified as Whaley's girlfriend. Whaley also shot and seriously wounded a 36-year-old woman before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life. The motive behind the deadly shooting remained unclear to investigators.
The Baton Rouge Police Department investigated the incident thoroughly, but as the perpetrator died at the scene, there were no further arrests to be made in connection with the deaths of Shawyn Lollis and Makayla Jones. The community was left to mourn the senseless loss of life. Shawyn Lollis's family held a visitation and homegoing service on July 21, 2015, at the Berean Seventh Day Adventist Church in Baton Rouge, where loved ones gathered to remember a man taken too soon.
