Mayor says city is safe after deadliest day of shootings in 2017

BATON ROUGE – Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and local law enforcement leaders say Baton Rouge is still safe despite three deadly shootings on Tuesday.

A statement from the mayor's office described Valentine's Day as the deadliest day of shootings in 2017. The holiday got off to a violent start this year with three shootings, two of them just blocks apart.

The first shooting happened near Maplewood Drive and Matthews Street around 2:30 a.m. A 22-year-old man from Laplace was found dead at the scene. The victim was later identified as Marcus Anthony Holmes.

A second shooting occurred on Glenlea Avenue around noon. That shooting stemmed from an armed robbery. According to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office, the victim retrieved his gun and fired shots at the suspect. The suspect, 19-year-old Terione Dominique fled and died a short distance away from the victim's home.





A separate shooting occurred on Mills Avenue around 5:50 a.m. that left 53-year-old Roosevelt Florida man dead. According to the Baton Rouge Police Department, Florida was found shot to death, lying on the side of the road. The incident is being treated as a "possible homicide."

All incidents are under investigation. Broome said law enforcement officials are working around the clock to bring those involved to justice and more officers are patrolling the areas where the shootings happened.

“The past few days have been a tragic time in our community and we are certainly concerned about the lives that were lost and the increase of homicides in our parish,” Broome said. “Anytime you have that number of individuals who are killed it’s certainly alarming. Yet, I want the public to know that we will rise above such violence as citizens work together with law enforcement to end the senseless shootings that make our communities unsafe. The violence must stop.”

City officials say the number of homicides in East Baton Rouge Parish dropped to its lowest level in a decade last year.