Thomas Braden was 16 when he was shot and killed in New Orleans in the early morning of December 15, 2024. Officers responding to the 1600 block of Elysian Fields Avenue in the city’s 7th Ward found him around 4 a.m.; emergency medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene from gunshot wounds. The Orleans Parish Coroner later identified Braden as one of three young people killed in separate shootings that weekend.

The New Orleans Police Department opened an investigation into Braden’s killing. Authorities released surveillance footage of a person of interest in a different, same-day shooting that killed two other victims; any connection to Braden’s case has not been established. If anyone has information about what happened to Thomas Braden, please contact the New Orleans Police Department.