Police: 2 Louisiana slayings were likely racially motivated
Suspect in custody not yet charged with role in killings.
The BATON ROUGE, LA. — slayings of two black men in Baton Rouge last week were likely racially motivated, police said Sunday, and a suspect a 23-year— old white man was in cus- — tody. In both shootings, the gunman fired from his car then walked up to the vic- tims as they were lying on the ground and fired again multiple times.
The suspect, Kenneth Glea- son, was being held on drug charges. Authorities didn’t immediately have enough evidence to arrest him on
charges related to the kill- ings, but the investigation was ongoing, Baton Rouge Sgt. L’Jean Mckneely told The Associated Press. “The victims were ... ambushed,” Mckneely said.
“There is a strong possibil- ity that it could be racially motivated.”
Mckneely said shell casings from the shootings linked
the two slayings, and a car belonging to Gleason fit the description of the vehicle
used in the killings. He said authorities had collected other circumstantial evidence but he wouldn’t say what it was.
Neither victim had any prior relationship with Gleason. It wasn’t immediately clear if Gleason had an attor
ney or when his first court appearance would be.
The shootings happened about five miles from each other. The first occurred
Tuesday night when 59-yearold Bruce Cofield, who was homeless, was shot to death. The second happened Thursday night when 49-year-old Donald Smart was gunned down while walking to his job as a dishwasher at a cafe
popular with Louisiana State University students, Mckneely said.
Smart’s aunt, Mary Smart, said she was still dealing with the shock of her nephew’s death.
“I’m feeling down and depressed. My nephew, I love him, and he was on his way to work and that makes it so sad,” she said in a telephone interview Sunday. “He was always smiling and hugging everybody. A lot of people knew him.”
Smart had a son and two daughters, she said.
She declined to comment on police allegations that her nephew might have been shot because of the color of his skin. “I cannot say,” she said.
“Only God knows.” No one answered the
door at Gleason’s house in a quiet neighborhood of mostly ranch-style homes with well-kept lawns,located about 10 miles from the sites of the shootings.
“He looks like any cleancut American kid,” said
neighbor Nancy Reynolds, who said she didn’t know Gleason or his family. She said it was “hard to believe
this sort of thing is still happening.”
Gleason didn’t appear to have any active social media profiles, and two of his maternal aunts declined to comment.