A family gathering in Baton Rouge turned deadly on January 19, 2025. Latasha Thomas, 48, a grandmother who had been preparing a birthday brunch for her daughter, went with her eight-year-old grandson to a nearby store after the daughter’s rental car was stolen from their driveway. Thomas spotted the stolen vehicle being driven by a group of teenagers, called 911, and followed the car.

Near Plank Road and Wyandotte Street the stolen car stopped. The teenage driver exited, approached Thomas’s vehicle, and fired a weapon, fatally wounding her in front of her grandson. The boy was left wounded and covered in his grandmother’s blood.

Later that day a 14-year-old boy surrendered to the Baton Rouge Police Department with his mother, reportedly confessing to her; he was arrested and booked on second-degree murder and illegal use of a weapon and taken to a juvenile detention center. Police said they were still seeking at least two others believed to have been in the stolen car. The stolen vehicle was later recovered after being set on fire.

Did anyone in the area see the stolen car before it was set on fire or recognize the teenagers involved?