KENNER, La (WGNO) — Two men Kenner Police identified as the alleged suspects in the shooting death of a maintenance man on Monday (April 10) have been arrested.
On Tuesday (April 11), 23-year-old Tahj Matthews and 25-year-old Maurice Holmes were taken into custody by Kenner Detective Nick Engler and Captain Michael Cunningham. The two face the same charge of First-Degree Murder in the death of 66-year-old Lawrence Herr.
On Monday, Kenner detectives say Herr was in the 20 block of Georgetown Street installing a mailbox when a drive-by assault happened reportedly carried out by Matthews and Holmes. Police say in the hours following the shooting, they were able to identify the vehicle and subjects involved.
“We confidently determined the car used in the crime through technology and good old-fashioned police work. We tracked down the suspects on West Esplanade just hours after the shooting. We impounded the vehicle, detained the suspects for questioning and surveilled them until we had enough evidence to arrest,” said Chief of Police Keith Conley.
Kenner Police used their license plate reading technology to track the vehicle which passed by Herr three times before the shooting happened. Officers report the vehicle passed once, made a U-turn, passed again, made another U-turn at the stop sign of Georgetown and Northwestern Drive and made one final U-turn at the intersection of Georgetown and Tulane Drive before stopping and shooting Herr.
Detectives were able to get a confession out of one suspect which led to the arrest of the second subject. The department credits their 100% solve rates in regard to homicides
“Let this serve as a message to anyone who considers terrorizing this city or its people that the Kenner PD will be relentless until we bring a criminal to justice. This was a heinous drive-by assassination of a kind, caring man who was helping other. We were determined to end the rage of these criminals before they could target anyone else,” said Chief Conley.
Should anyone have any additional information to offer, they are asked to call the Kenner Police Department at 504-712-2222 or call Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.
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