Stanley Goldsby came to a Shreveport residence in late September to visitLadarrien Taylor and Denzel Taylor.
Goldsby, Shreveport police said, laterargued with one of the men before producing a gun and shooting themin the upper body. Goldsbyfled the scene in a vehicle leaving bothmen behind, according to police.Theywere taken to Ochsner LSU Health where they later died.
They were the last reported homicidesin the first three quarters ofa deadly 2020 for Shreveport. Nine homicides were reported in September, an increase over the two homicides in September, 2018. Fifty homicides have been reported through the first three quarters -- 13 more than all of last year. The 50 homicides represent a 117% increase over last year.
'This year has been terrible for a lot of metro areas'
Earlier this year, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins and Chief of Police Ben Raymond held a press conference to discuss the city's crime statistics.
“Public safety remains a top priority and today we’re super excited to announce the numbers for the end of year crime report for 2019. It shows that 2019 was one of the safest years in Shreveport history,'' Perkins proclaimed.
And he was right.
Part 1 crime -- homicide, rape, robbery, burglary and theft, auto theft, assault and battery -- fell 8%over 2018, reaching its lowest point since 1975. Homicides dropped by 29%.
Raymond called 2019 "a banner year for Shreveport with regards to Part 1 crime.''
The success of 2019 carried over into 2020 with just one homicide reported in January.
But since January, the city has seen property crimes decrease by 2% and violent crimes increase by 19%.
"We can't diagnose crime going up while it's actually happening,'' Perkins said. "It takes some time to retroactively look back. But I can tell you crime is up throughout the country. This year has been terrible for a lot of metro areas.''
The breakdown of Shreveport's crime statistics through the first three quarters shows:
-- Homicides are up by 117% over last year.
-- Aggravated assault/battery is up by 30% year over year.
-- Rape is down 13% from the first three quarters of 2019.
-- Burglary is down 7% over last year.
-- Theft is down 1% and auto theft is down 3% from 2019.
One obvious difference in 2020 and 2019 has been the COVID-19 pandemic which reached Shreveport in mid-March. The pandemic led to Gov. John Bel Edwards' stay-at-home order in the spring. Some businesses closed permanently. Some lost jobs. Some lost loved ones.
"This has been such an odd year because of the pandemic,'' Raymond said. "It's really hard to isolate exactly what is causing the increase in violent crime. If you look at our Part 1 crime, we're still at historically low numbers in every category with the exception of aggravated assaults and batteries, which is primarily going to be shootings, and homicide numbers, which are off the charts compared to last year.''
Perkins also mentioned the pandemic as a potential cause for the increase in violent crimes in the city.
"If you want to look at something that might be contributing to it, it might be the changes ofcircumstances and the changes of environment, which is COVID-19,'' he said. "People are more so in the house. People are interacting more online. People's anxiety is likely up. People are going through a lot more stressors when you consider the health risk, when you consider the economic risk. There's a lot of things that have changed this year fromlast year. We think that could be contributing to it, but right now there is no definitive answer.''
Raymond also mentioned the pandemic as a possible cause, but he also mentioned the number of officers his department has on the street and it how it been affected by other events of 2020.
He said some anti-law enforcement sentiment nationwide due to in-custody deaths has hurt recruiting numbers to some degree. Protests sprung nationally in June after the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. In-custody deaths of Tommie McGlothen Jr. and Wavey Austin in Shreveport also sparked local protests.
"It's more difficult to attract qualified applicants to the job,'' he said. "We have ongoing problems recruiting qualified applicants so we're actually about 45 to 50 officers fewer than we had this time last year. Anytime you have fewer officers, that's fewer officers you can have working special operations and addressing those problems.''
What's ahead
The violent crime numbers are no surprise to Perkins and Raymond. They are aware the city's 2020 crime statistics will look vastly different than the 2019 ones.
Yet both the mayor and the chief of police are hopeful for improvement in the fourth quarter. And that improvement starts in the community.
"Our response is to be as engaged as ever, to be as proactive as ever and to do everything we can to keep the community safe,'' Perkins said. "But a critical part of it is the community working alongside of our police officers so that we can keep our neighborhoods and our city safe overall.''
Raymond said he is optimistic that the fourth quarter crime statistics will show an improvement and a reduction in violent crimes.
He said he wants to end the year "hopefully not too far from where we are now and start fresh in 2021 and really get a grip on some of the problems that we're seeing.''
Despite the rise in homicides and violent crimes, cases are still being solved and sent through the system.
Also going through the system is Goldsby. He wastaken into custody in Cass County, Missouri, in early October. He was extradited back to Caddo Parish and will be arraigned Wednesday before Judge Ramona Emanuel on second-degree murder charges.
