In the early afternoon of February 10, 2024, the life of 18-year-old David Atkins, a Black male, came to a violent end inside a home on Washington Avenue in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was found having been shot multiple times and died at the scene. Another 17-year-old male was also shot and wounded in the incident but was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The shooting was described by the Baton Rouge Police Chief as a targeted and retaliatory act.
Atkins himself was no stranger to the criminal justice system. At the time of his death, he was on the run, having escaped from the East Baton Rouge Parish Juvenile Detention Facility in November 2023. This was his second escape from the facility, where he was being held on charges of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder for a 2021 incident that left one man dead and another injured. His repeated escapes had drawn attention to security issues at the aging detention center.
The investigation into Atkins' death quickly led to arrests. Authorities believe the motive for the shooting was an attempted robbery of a rifle. Four individuals have since been indicted by a grand jury in connection with the killing. Travelle Burris, 19, and Treylen Williams, 18, were indicted on charges of second-degree murder, armed robbery, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Two juveniles, 17-year-olds Mark Burris and Jason Sheppard, were formally charged with first-degree murder.
According to police, Travelle Burris and two others went to the Washington Avenue home to rob Atkins of the firearm. An altercation ensued, during which multiple people shot Atkins before fleeing the residence. At the time of the incident, Travelle Burris was reportedly on probation for a prior simple robbery conviction. The swift arrests brought a close to the search for Atkins, but opened a new chapter in the ongoing narrative of violence that tragically cut his young life short.
