Update, 9:45 a.m. Tuesday

Gleason will be booked on murder counts in the two homicides on Tuesday, according to reports. Read the latest here.

Update, 8:30 a.m. Tuesday

Law enforcement will hold a news conference at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday to discuss Gleason's arrest.

Baton Rouge police, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office, the East Baton Rouge District Attorney's Office and Louisiana State Police will hold the joint news conference.

Original story

A Baton Rouge man named a person of interest in two recent homicides was arrested again on theft, according to East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office records.

Kenneth Gleason, 23, posted a $500 bond and was out of prison on Tuesday morning.

On Wednesday morning, Gleason allegedly left a book store in the 2300 block of Towne Center Boulevard without paying for a purchase, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office said in a probable cause report. He was contacted in a traffic stop on Tuesday and booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.

Gleason, who police named as a person of interest in two killings that occurred last week, was arrested on Sunday on unrelated drug counts. He posted a $3,500 bond on the same day and was released from prison.

Baton Rouge police have said they don't have enough evidence to arrest Gleason in the homicides, which a spokesman has said could possibly have been racially motivated. The slayings of the two pedestrians, one gunned down about 11 p.m. Sept. 12 and the other about the same time on Thursday, were connected through ballistics, but appear to be random attacks, said Baton Rouge Police spokesman Sgt. L'Jean McKneely.

He said Gleason was questioned for hours by detectives Saturday in the killings, which happened in the 3400 block of Florida Street and 3000 block of Alaska Street respectively, just five miles apart. Police also obtained a search warrant for Gleason's home, where they found marijuana and human growth hormones in his bedroom and bathroom, leading to his arrest on possession of Schedule III and I drugs.

The first of the two shootings killed Bruce Cofield, 59, who was apparently homeless and often panhandled at the intersection where he was shot on Florida Street. On Thursday night, Donald Smart, 49, was fatally shot as he was walking on Alaska Street to work his overnight shift at Louie's Cafe, just off LSU's campus.

Shell casings from the two killings matched and Gleason's car fit the description police were searching for, McKneely said. He mentioned there is other evidence but declined to expound.

Attempts Monday to reach Gleason, of 5144 Sandy Ridge Drive, went unanswered.

Advocate staff writer Grace Toohey contributed to this report