In the early morning hours of May 20, 2025, the joyous sounds of a graduation celebration in a Lake Charles, Louisiana neighborhood were shattered by a hail of gunfire. Sixteen-year-old McKenzie Rideau, a student at Lake Charles College Prep, was attending the party when dozens of shots were fired into the gathering just after midnight in the 500 block of Central Parkway.
When the chaos subsided, McKenzie had been fatally wounded.
A beloved student and member of her school's volleyball team and flag line, McKenzie was remembered by her principal as a 'light' whose presence touched every corner of the campus. Her family described her as a smart and beautiful individual with ambitious plans for her future. Investigators quickly determined that the young woman was an innocent bystander, not the intended target of the violent act that cut her life tragically short. The shooting was investigated as a homicide, and the community mourned the senseless loss of a promising young life.
In the days that followed, the Lake Charles Police Department worked to bring those responsible to justice. Their investigation led to the identification of two suspects. On May 30, 2025, authorities announced the arrests of 20-year-old Terrell Alfred and 19-year-old Jaylin Guidroz. Alfred, who was already in the Calcasieu Correctional Center on unrelated charges, was served with a warrant for second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, with his bond set at $2.7 million. Guidroz was also arrested and charged with second-degree murder and illegal use of weapons or dangerous instrumentalities, with a bond of $1.2 million. Police indicated that the investigation was ongoing and that more arrests were possible as they continued to piece together the events of that fatal night.
