Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul remains tight-lipped about the investigation into Saturday’s fatal shooting of a panhandler in the parking lot of the Acadian Village Shopping Center.
But a department spokesman says investigators have interviewed numerous witnesses who saw the incident, which killed 61-year-old Danny Buckley, and that the chief could issue a statement as soon as later today.
According to tenants of the shopping center and an internal police document leaked to the media, Buckley was “aggressively panhandling” customers in the Trader Joe’s parking lot when the shooting occurred.
The police document does not describe what specifically led up to the shooting, and though it identifies the alleged shooter, BRPD officials decline to confirm the name in the report.
Because police have refused to name the shooter, who is identified in the report as a 24-year-old white male, some community activists have accused the department on social media of a racist, double standard.
But Paul says the race of those involved in the incident has nothing to do with the way the investigation is being handled, adding that under department policy, the name of the shooter would not be released unless he is charged with a crime.
Earlier today, Mayor Sharon Weston Broome weighed in with a statement, saying she is “very concerned about the incident” and has asked Paul to “conduct a fair and transparent review of what happened.”
“I appreciate the citizens who have come forward with information thus far, and welcome any other information citizens might have,” the statement says. “Every citizen deserves to be treated justly, and I promise to the residents of East Baton Rouge Parish that this investigation will be conducted fairly.”
