Antonio Sterling, 34, was found dead inside his car after it was set on fire in Baton Rouge in April 2018. An autopsy showed he had been shot before the vehicle was deliberately ignited. Investigators later traced the killing to a tire shop on Florida Street, where authorities say Sterling was shot and killed hours before his burned car and body were abandoned.

In February 2020 two cousins, Derrick Jermaine Banks, then 44, and Kelvin Phillips, were arrested and charged with second-degree murder after anonymous tips and physical evidence led detectives to the shop. Traces of Sterling’s blood were found at the tire shop, which Phillips had been renting, and the shop itself was set on fire about 24 hours after the shooting in an apparent attempt to destroy evidence. Banks was already jailed on unrelated charges at the time of his arrest and later received an 84-month federal sentence for being a felon in possession of firearms, a sentence separate from the murder charge.

Anyone with information about Sterling, the tire shop on Florida Street, or the events of April 2018 is urged to come forward.