A trucker was robbed at gunpoint and killed while waiting to drop off a load in Louisiana on Tuesday.
It happened on August 8th at the Longbow shopping center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at approximately 8 a.m.
According to The Advocate, on Tuesday morning truck driver Keith Odom pulled into the Longbow shopping center in the 12300 block of Florida Boulevard to await the opening of Barton’s Surplus Warehouse so he could make his delivery.
While waiting, Odom got out of his truck to make a tire repair. Odom was then approached by a man wearing a backpack and a black hoodie who held Odom up at gunpoint. Odom was cooperating with the gunman when he was shot.
Witnesses reported the gunman was out for blood and heard him say he was “going to shoot someone, anyone!”
Employees from a nearby store said that they saw a man in a dark hoodie running across the parking lot after they heard the commotion.
Emergency responders gave aid to Odom at the scene, but he died at the hospital hours later.
“He looked dead,” said Jeremy Hill, a worker at Barton’s Surplus Warehouse who was arriving at work when he saw the scene. “He was white.”
Another witness claims that “this area is drug infested. The apartments right across the parking lot are just full of drug activity,” and believes the surrounding neighborhood to be the cause of the shooting.
“Something really needs to be done,” they added.
A Barton’s Surplus Warehouse manager, Devante Williams, said that a delivery from Travis Brown Trucking was expected on Tuesday around 8:30 a.m.
Odom, who worked for Travis Brown Trucking, was only one of many Travis Brown Trucking employees who wait for the warehouse to open in the Longbow shopping center parking lot every week.
Another Longbow business owner also said that he often had to run off “suspicious characters” and call the police.
Police believe that Odom was a victim of a random attack and have still not identified any suspects in the case.
Any person with information regarding this case is asked to contact the Violent Crimes Unit at 225-389-4869.
