Bruce Cofield, 59, was fatally shot while at a bus stop on Florida Boulevard in Baton Rouge on September 12, 2017. He was found lying in the roadway with a gunshot wound; at the outset investigators reported no immediate suspect or clear motive. Cofield was experiencing homelessness at the time and was described by people who knew him as having a good, big heart.

Cofield’s killing occurred amid a string of violent incidents in the same area: shots were fired into the home of a Black family the day before, and two days after Cofield was killed, 49-year-old Donald Smart was shot and killed while walking to work. Investigators later linked the attacks and pursued a racial motive.

Investigators arrested 27-year-old Kenneth Gleason after DNA on shell casings and phone location data connected him to the scenes; a copy of a speech by Adolf Hitler was found in his home. Gleason was charged with the first-degree murders of Cofield and Smart; his trial began in April 2021, and a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder. In August 2021 he received life without parole.

Did anyone in Baton Rouge recognize Cofield or have information about his movements that night?