In the early morning hours of April 18, 2024, two men were found fatally shot near the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and South White Street in New Orleans’ Central City neighborhood. Police responded to reports of shots fired around 4:20 a.m. and discovered 71-year-old Douglas Patterson and his 21-year-old son, Dalton Reeder, both deceased from gunshot wounds. A family member later confirmed their identities.

While officers were still processing the scene, a 22-year-old man named Ronell Reeder surrendered at the second district station and was arrested. He was booked into the Orleans Parish Justice Center and charged with two counts of second-degree murder. The motive and the precise relationship between the suspect and the victims have not been disclosed. Patterson had served for 12 years as an associate minister at the Greater King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church.

If anyone has information that could help the ongoing investigation, please share what is known with the authorities.