In the line of duty on March 10, 2015, Deputy U.S. Marshal Josie Lamar Wells, a 27-year-old male, was shot and killed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Wells was part of a U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force that had tracked a double-murder suspect to the Elm Grove Motel. The task force was attempting to serve an arrest warrant on the suspect, identified as 31-year-old Jamie D. Croom.
Croom was wanted for the murders of a brother and sister outside a nightclub in Pointe Coupee Parish.
As the members of the task force attempted to take Croom into custody, a gunfight erupted. During the exchange of gunfire, Marshal Wells was struck. Another deputy marshal rushed him to a local hospital, but he succumbed to his wounds shortly after arriving. The suspect, Jamie Croom, was also shot multiple times during the confrontation and died the following day from his injuries.
Marshal Wells had been with the United States Marshals Service for four years, having joined in 2011 after graduating from Jackson State University with a degree in criminal justice. He came from a family with a strong law enforcement background; his father and three brothers also served as law enforcement officers. At the time of his death, Wells and his wife, Channing, were expecting their first child. The day after he was killed, his wife learned they were having a boy, who would be named Josie Wells Jr. in honor of his father.
