Seventeen-year-old Markeith Franklin Jr., known to family as JR, was fatally shot the evening of Friday, March 18, 2022. The shooting occurred about 7:35 p.m. on Scotland Avenue just east of Scenic Highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Franklin had left home with friends earlier that evening and was sitting in a car with three of them when the shots were fired. His friends brought him back to the family home with a gunshot wound to the chest; his mother, Chenetra Washington, found the wound and emergency services transported him to a local hospital where he later died.

The motive remains unclear. Washington said a group of young men armed with guns had come to the family’s house looking for her son earlier the same morning. The Baton Rouge Police Department opened a homicide investigation but had not identified suspects or a reason for the killing in initial reports. Family members have publicly appealed for information.

If anyone knew Markeith, saw him on Scotland Avenue that evening, or has information about the group that visited the home earlier that day, please contact the Violent Crimes Unit or Crime Stoppers.