In the early summer of 2023, the life of Keisha Cherrie Gray, a 34-year-old Black mother of three, was brought to a tragic and violent end in her New Orleans home. A graduate of McDonogh 35 High School and Delgado Community College, Ms. Gray was known by friends and family as a kind and loving woman who was devoted to her children. Her family remembered her as a "kind soul" after her death.
Ms.
Gray’s life was cut short on June 1, 2023, in a shooting in the city's Broadmoor neighborhood. Responding to a call, New Orleans police arrived at a home in the 3800 block of General Taylor Street to find Ms. Gray on the kitchen floor with at least one gunshot wound. The incident was a horrific act of domestic violence that left her three children, the youngest only six months old, without their mother.
The initial call to authorities was made by Lostin Lee, who was the father of her two youngest children. He claimed that an argument had escalated and that he had shot Ms. Gray in self-defense, alleging she had come at him with a knife. This act of violence unfolded while her three children were present in the home.
However, the narrative of self-defense provided by Lee began to unravel as investigators processed the scene. Police noted that while two knives were found under Ms. Gray's legs, she did not have one in her hand when she was discovered. This led authorities to believe that the crime scene had been staged. According to reports, Lee admitted to investigators that after the shooting, he took the children from the home, went to his mother's house, and then to a restaurant before eventually returning to the residence to contact the police.
Based on the evidence and his statement, 34-year-old Lostin Lee was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection with Keisha Cherrie Gray's death. In March 2026, an Orleans Parish jury found Lostin Lee guilty of second-degree murder for the killing.
