3 arrests after 17-year-old killed in Marrero shooting | Crime/Police

A plot to launch a shooting at a graduation party in Marrero’s Westminster neighborhood in May went awry when authorities said two of the six co-conspirators were wounded, possibly by friendly fire, and crashed into a bus stop while fleeing the scene.

Dontrell Pierre, 17, climbed out of the wrecked vehicle but later died from his injuries. The alleged mastermind of the plot, Legend Baker, 20, flagged down a nearby Uber driver to take him to a hospital, according to Steven Mehrtens, a homicide investigator with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Mehrtens revealed new details about the fatal double shooting when he testified at a hearing on July 3 on behalf of the three suspects arrested in the case.

Baker, of New Orleans, Jyron Cosse, 18, of River Ridge and Skylor Johnson, 18, of Marrero, were charged with second-degree murder in connection with Pierre’s death, jail records say. Baker was also charged with possession of a firearm because he was convicted as a felon.

Investigators believe Baker assembled a group, including Pierre and his co-defendants, to attack the neighborhood party in retaliation for previous fights with people around him, Mehrtens said.

car accident

On the night of May 18, the sheriff’s office received several 911 calls within minutes from two different locations in Marrero: According to Mehrtens, a gunshot victim was reported outside a graduation ceremony near the intersection of Westwood Drive and Rue Louis Phillippe, and then a gunshot victim was reported in the 5100 block of Lapalco Boulevard.

Officers responded to the more serious incident in Lapalco, where they found Pierre with a gunshot wound to the abdomen near the front door of a Taco Bell, the detective said. Pierre had climbed out of a gray Infiniti sedan that had crashed into a bus stop.

According to witness testimony and surveillance video, about five or six people – some masked – exited the wrecked sedan and ran into the parking lot. Investigators determined that Baker, the owner and driver of the car, suffered a gunshot wound to the chin, Mehrtens said.

A woman told investigators she was waiting in the Taco Bell parking lot for food to be delivered by Uber Eats when one of the occupants of the crashed car, later identified as Baker, opened her door, got in and asked her to drive him to a hospital, according to the sheriff’s office. She took him to West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero.

Three of the Infiniti’s occupants were picked up nearby by a getaway vehicle, Mehrtens said. Pierre, meanwhile, was taken to University Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries, authorities said.

According to Mehrtens, investigators found three firearms and two ski masks in and around Baker’s vehicle and in the parking lot.

Party shootings

According to Mehrtens, officers dispatched to Rue Louis Phillippe Drive spoke with a witness to a graduation ceremony there who said several masked men emerged from a row of trees and bushes on the bank of a canal across the street and opened fire on the attendees.

Although the witness did not say anyone fired back, officers found cartridge cases from three different types of firearms at the scene, detectives said.

A search across the street from where the shooters were spotted also found cartridge cases matching the caliber of the weapons found in and near the destroyed limousine, Mehrtens said. Ballistics testing of the weapons and cartridge cases had not been completed at the time of the hearing, he said.

After investigators determined that the wrecked limousine was Baker’s property, they learned that his godbrother and his godbrother’s girlfriend had been attacked earlier that day by people who lived in the Westminster neighborhood, authorities said.

“Baker gathered a group of people to respond,” Mehrtens said, testifying that the suspects were targeting the graduation ceremony taking place in Westminster.

Sheriff’s office investigators say the group consisted of Pierre, Cosse, Johnson and two others. One unnamed suspect has not yet been arrested, according to Mehrtens, while the last one has not yet been identified.

Friendly Fire

Although investigators believe there was gunfire between someone and Baker’s group at the party, Mehrtens said they suspect Pierre and Baker may have been injured by their co-conspirators.

“The three who got into the getaway car … conversations afterward among those present at the shooting suggest the possibility of friendly fire,” Mehrtens testified, not going into further detail.

Cosse told investigators he was with friends in a dead-end street on the other side of the tree line when someone shot at them, wounding Baker and Pierre, Mehrtens said.

But text messages from Johnson contradict that statement. They suggest that the suspects were targeting the party and were the first to shoot, Mehrtens said.

Baker was arrested on May 23. Cosse was taken into custody on June 10, and Johnson followed on June 12.

Despite defense arguments that there was not enough evidence to establish a probable cause, Jefferson Parish Detective Paul Schneider ruled that charges could still be brought against all three.

Baker, Johnson and Cosse were being held Friday at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna. Baker’s bail was set at $810,000, while his co-defendants were being held on $500,000 bail.