A violent confrontation on North Boulevard in Baton Rouge on January 10, 1972, escalated into a deadly shootout after members of the Nation of Islam from out of state set up a blockade. Two East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputies, Ralph Hancock and DeWayne Wilder, were killed at the scene, along with two Black men, Samuel Upton and Thomas Davis. A 33-year-old man known as Larry Mobley, also identified as Lonnie X, was critically wounded, taken to a local hospital, and died seventeen days later from his injuries.

In the immediate aftermath, a number of Black men associated with the Nation of Islam were arrested and charged with offenses including murder and inciting a riot. Nine defendants were convicted in May 1973 and sentenced to 21 years, but the Louisiana Supreme Court later reversed those convictions because the trial judge denied a change of venue. Murder charges were dismissed by the original judge, and a retrial in June 1976 again produced guilty verdicts and 21-year sentences the following month.

Did anyone in Baton Rouge at the time have more information about the events on North Boulevard or the men involved?