A Terrytown teen was convicted Friday night (March 23) of luring a 15-year-old boy out of his family’s Westwego apartment and fatally shooting him as he fled for his life.
Chamid Davis, 19, committed the second-degree murder of Kevin Thomas Jr., the Jefferson Parish jury decided.
The motive: Retaliation for Thomas allegedly stealing a gun. “It is really dumb to kill someone over a stolen gun,” Assistant District Attorney Matt Clauss, who prosecuted with Lindsay Truhe, said in closing argument. He called it “foolery.”
Just after midnight on Oct. 19, 2015, Davis, then age 16, contacted Thomas and, under the guise of a marijuana transaction, had him leave his home in the Tanglewood apartment complex in the 1000 block of Sycamore Drive, according to evidence presented at trial.
Evidence shows Thomas was shot in the back three times as he fled up the stairs to his apartment to escape the gunfire. He died in mother’s arms in their living room, according to trial evidence.
Davis denied it, and his attorney argued that Westwego Police Department detectives arrested the wrong person. The jury deliberated just over an hour before finding Davis guilty.
Judge Henry Sullivan of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Davis on April 4. Because he was under age 18 when he killed Thomas, Davis will be eligible for parole consideration after serving 25 years of his life sentence.
Assistant District Attorneys Matt Clauss and Lindsay Truhe prosecuted the case.
