On a tragic Father's Day in 2015, 21-year-old Trammell Marshall was fatally shot in an apartment in Harvey, Louisiana. The incident, which occurred on June 21, 2015, also claimed the life of his cousin, 23-year-old Johnell Ovide, and left a third man seriously wounded. Marshall, a graduate of John Ehret High School who had a passion for football and attended the College of Dupage in Illinois, was at an apartment in the 1600 block of Apache Drive when the ambush unfolded.
That evening,
three men—Dartanya O. Spottsville, Jacobie Green, and Johnell Walker—arrived unexpectedly at the apartment where Marshall and others were present. For reasons that remain unclear, Spottsville suddenly opened fire, shooting Ovide and the other man who would survive. In the ensuing chaos, Green and Walker also began shooting. Marshall ran to the kitchen but was followed and shot five times, with three of the bullets striking him from behind. Before he died, Marshall was able to identify one of the gunmen as 'Cobie,' a nickname for Jacobie Green, who had been a friend. His mother later wrote in a statement, 'You stole a life from someone who trusted you...He opened the door not knowing your face would be the last face he would see.'
The investigation led to the arrests of the three men. In August 2018, Jacobie Green, then 26, was convicted on two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted second-degree murder. He was subsequently sentenced to two consecutive life sentences plus an additional 50 years in prison. Another man, Archie Hulbert III, received a seven-year sentence for perjury after lying to a grand jury in an attempt to protect Green.
Dartanya O. Spottsville, 35 at the time of his second trial, was also convicted of two counts of second-degree murder, one count of attempted second-degree murder, and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm in September 2023. This was his second conviction for the crimes, as an earlier non-unanimous jury verdict in 2019 was overturned following a Supreme Court ruling. The third man involved in the shooting, Johnell Walker, was also implicated in the attack. The senseless violence of that night cut short the life of a young man with a promising future, leaving a lasting void in the lives of his family and friends.
