In the heart of New Orleans, on a Tuesday afternoon, the life of 38-year-old Geron Elzie was tragically cut short. On January 7, 2025, at approximately 12:10 p.m., Fifth District officers were dispatched to the intersection of North Galvez Street and Elysian Fields Avenue following reports of a shooting. Upon their arrival, they discovered Geron Elzie unresponsive, having sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
Emergency medical services were called to the scene, but his injuries were too severe, and he was pronounced deceased.
The investigation into the homicide was swiftly undertaken by the New Orleans Police Department's Homicide Unit. Through their determined efforts, detectives were able to identify Marvin Banks, a Black male, as a perpetrator in the fatal shooting. On Saturday, January 11, 2025, just four days after the incident, Banks was apprehended in the Seventh District by the NOPD's Violent Crime Abatement Investigative Team, with assistance from the Louisiana State Police Troop B and its Bureau of Investigations. He was subsequently charged with second-degree murder and booked into the Orleans Parish Justice Center.
The investigation did not end with the initial arrest. Detectives continued to pursue leads and, in the following month, identified a second individual, Sterling Pepe, a Black male, as also being involved in Geron Elzie's death. On the morning of February 13, 2025, members of the NOPD's Violent Offender Warrant Squad, along with U.S. Marshals, located and arrested Pepe in the 1900 block of Touro Street. Like his alleged accomplice, Sterling Pepe was charged with second-degree murder and booked into the Orleans Justice Center. Both men are now accused of taking the life of Geron Elzie on that fateful January afternoon.
