White man, 23, charged in killing of 2 black men
Race may be factor in deaths, attack on black family’s home.
A BATON ROUGE, LA. — 23-year-old white man was arrested Tuesday and accused of cold-bloodedly killing two black men and shooting up a black family’s home in a string of attacks last week that police say may have been racially motivated.
A law enforcement official said authorities found a handwritten copy of an Adolf Hitler speech at Kenneth James Gleason’s home, and investigators said surveillance footage and DNA on a shell casing link him to the crimes.
Authorities said he would be charged with first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of a homeless man and a dishwasher who was walking to work. In each case, the killer opened fire from his car, then walked up to the victim as he lay on the ground and fired again repeatedly, police said.
“I feel confident that this killer would have killed again,” interim Police Chief Jonny Dunnam said.
Gleason’s attorney, J. Christopher Alexander, said his client “vehemently denies guilt, and we look forward to complete vindication.”
Authorities found the Hitler speech during a search over the weekend, according to the law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still going on.
Asked whether police suspect the shootings were motivated by race, Sgt. L’Jean McKneely said: “We’re not completely closed off to that. We’re looking at all possibilities at this time, so we’re not going to just pinpoint that.”
District Attorney Hillar Moore said he may seek the death penalty.
“It appears to be cold, calculated, planned (against) people who were unarmed and defenseless,” he said.
Authorities also said that just after midnight on Sept. 10, Gleason fired into the home of a black family who lived three houses down from him and his parents.
The homeowner, Tonya Stephens, said her two adult sons were home at the time and she was away at her nurse’s job. Three bullets pierced the front door and struck furniture, but no one was hurt.
Stephens said her family had seen Gleason sleeping in his car or speeding down the street, but she never had any dealings with him and “I never paid him any mind.”
In the other shootings, neither victim had any connection to Gleason, investigators said.
The first killing occurred Sept. 12, when 59-year-old Bruce Cofield, who was homeless, was gunned down. The second took place last Thursday night, when 49-year-old Donald Smart was shot on his way to his job at a café popular with Louisiana State University students.
Authorities said ballistics tests determined that the same gun was used in all three shootings. Investigators have not found the 9 mm gun but said Gleason bought such a weapon last November.
One of the big breaks in the case came when a security company noticed a white man removing a license plate from a red car and perhaps putting a gun in the trunk while parked at the company’s office.
The company reported the suspicious activity to police and followed up with them after the second shooting, giving authorities video and photographs. Investigators found Gleason’s red car Saturday.