In the pre-dawn hours of a December morning in Metairie, Louisiana, a meeting arranged by phone turned deadly, ending the life of 29-year-old Demektric Whitfield-Anderson. Whitfield-Anderson, a male from Memphis, Tennessee, was in town with two female companions, staying at a local motel. A phone call prompted the three to drive to a nearby apartment complex on Pasadena Avenue.
Shortly before 5:30 a.m. on December 30, 2013, two men approached their vehicle.
After a brief conversation with Whitfield-Anderson, who was in the driver's seat, he attempted to back the car away. It was at that moment the two assailants opened fire on the vehicle. The sudden burst of gunfire shattered the early morning quiet, with at least one bullet striking a window of a nearby apartment where a child slept, though the boy was unharmed.
Whitfield-Anderson was struck multiple times by the gunfire. He was rushed to East Jefferson General Hospital, but his injuries proved fatal. His front-seat passenger, 25-year-old Tacara C. Williams, also from Memphis, died at the scene. A third individual, a woman in the back seat, was not physically injured in the attack. Authorities later described the shooting as a drug-related crime.
In the ensuing investigation, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office identified Jason 'Jay' Thomas of New Orleans as a suspect in the double homicide. Thomas later surrendered to authorities and was booked on two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of Whitfield-Anderson and Williams.
