Eight-year-old Diellon Daniels was the life and glue of his family, a shy second grader who had just begun to blossom. Known to his loved ones as “Dill” or “Dill Pickle,” the young Black boy loved candy, juice, and playing outside. His grandmother recalled watching him grow from a cocoon into a butterfly, a child who would always do or say something to make people smile.
His family and friends wore his favorite color, emerald green, to honor him at his funeral.
On the afternoon of November 27, 2024, the day before Thanksgiving, Diellon was in a car with his pregnant mother, Courtlyn Daniels, and his four siblings on Swan Avenue in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Suddenly, their vehicle was targeted in a drive-by shooting. Gunmen sprayed the car with dozens of bullets, and investigators later found more than 60 shell casings at the scene. In the chaos, the car crashed. Diellon was fatally wounded. His 7-year-old brother, Denim, was shot five times, and his 11-year-old sister was also injured. Both siblings survived and were later released from the hospital.
Police described the shooting as a deliberate and heinous act, quickly determining it was not random but tied to rivalries between violent street groups. Investigators believed the Daniels family was tragically caught in the crossfire of a conflict they had no part in. The attack sent shockwaves through the community and left Diellon's family devastated. His grandmother, Erica Rayford, later learned that she knew one of the men accused of the killing; he had been to her home and called her "Auntie."
The investigation led to the arrests of four men: Kendrick Profit, 22; Yancy Jarrell, 24; Tremell Harris, 28; and Roger Parker, 20. An East Baton Rouge Parish Grand Jury indicted all four on charges of first-degree murder, multiple counts of attempted first-degree murder, assault by drive-by shooting, and illegal use of weapons during a crime of violence. Profit was also charged with obstruction of justice. Two women, Brianna Crump, who was identified as Parker's girlfriend, and her mother, Yarnell Crump, were also indicted as accessories after the fact to first-degree murder.
The legal paths for the accused diverged. Brianna Crump and Yarnell Crump pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. In the summer of 2025, a judge sentenced each of them to three years of probation and community service for their roles in assisting one of the alleged perpetrators after the shooting.
The four men charged with murder—Profit, Jarrell, Harris, and Parker—pleaded not guilty in March 2025. As of September 2025, their case was moving toward trial. A judge scheduled their jury trial to begin on September 21, 2026.
