On February 10, 2019, a family gathering in Clinton, Louisiana turned deadly when gunfire erupted at a Roosevelt Street home during a child’s ninth birthday party. Thirty-three-year-old Mitchell Matthews was struck by bullets after shots were fired from a white Honda Accord that pulled up to the residence. Matthews ran inside his parents’ home but collapsed and later died; a second person was also shot and survived. The house sustained significant bullet damage.

The East Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Office took over the investigation after the Clinton Police Department stepped aside. Two suspects were identified and arrested in the days after the shooting: Clyde Toney III and Markell Woods, each charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. Testimony at Woods’ trial placed both men at the scene and a witness said Woods had a firearm; both reportedly fled in the white Honda after the shots.

Markell Woods was convicted in connection with Mitchell Matthews’ death and sentenced as a second-felony habitual offender, receiving sixty years at hard labor on the first count and twenty-five years consecutive on the second. Does anyone have information about the events that day or the investigation leading up to the arrests?