BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Police believe the slayings of two black men in Baton Rouge were likely racially motivated and said Sunday they have a suspect — a 23-year-old white man — in custody.
The suspect, Kenneth Gleason, was being held on drug charges. Authorities do not yet have enough evidence to charge him with murder, Baton Rouge Sgt. L’Jean McKneely told The Associated Press.
McNeely said shell casings from the shootings linked the two slayings and a car belonging to Gleason fit the description of the vehicle police were looking for. He said police had collected other circumstantial evidence but he wouldn’t say what it was.
“There is a strong possibility that it could be racially motivated,” he said.
The shootings happened about 5 miles from each other. The first occurred Tuesday when 59-year-old Bruce Cofield, who was homeless, was shot to death. The second happened Thursday when 49-year-old Donald Smart was gunned down walking to work at a cafe popular with LSU students, McKneely said.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Gleason had an attorney or when his first court appearance would be.
Detectives searched Gleason’s home on Saturday and found less than a gram of marijuana and vials of human growth hormone in his bedroom, according a police document. After Gleason was read his Miranda rights, he claimed ownership of the drugs, the document said.
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Associated Press writer Jacob Jordan in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Ya think?
I’d be interested in hearing from our lawyer friends here about the possibility of lawsuits against groups that a reasonable person would say help instigate racial and other kinds of violence committed by people with diminished judgment. And I’m a free-speech hawk. But it would be a good thing IMHO if Duke, Spencer, Jones, Limbaugh, and all the smaller fry thought about financial consequences if their stuff shows up in browsing histories and so forth. If this is the guy, and I hope it is, he’s ruined God knows how many lives, and the people who cynically egged him on have a moral obligation to answer for it.
Wait; he’s white. We can’t jump to conclusions!
as a resident of baton rouge, i can say first hand there’s plenty enough murdering in this town that doesn’t involve racism.
He´s also not left-wing, or a juggalo.
We´ve got a real puzzle on our hands with this one.