Men wanted in Clinton fatal shooting
CLINTON — Police arrested on Thursday one of two men suspected in the fatal shooting of a man Wednesday night at the intersection of Kennedy and Johnson Streets, Clinton Police Chief Eddie Stewart said.
Jerald Matthews, 26, no address given, who was arrested in Baton Rouge, will be transferred to custody in Clinton Friday, police said. An unidentified accomplice of Matthews in the shooting remains a fugitive, police said.
Isaac Simmons, 42, of Clinton, was hit by at least two bullets and died at the scene, Stewart said. An autopsy was scheduled for Friday.
Stewart said two men told police they were standing outside a mobile home at the intersection when a blue truck drove up about 9:15 p.m. and a man in the passenger seat got out, pulled out a pistol and tried to rob them.
Police believe that while the robbery was under way, Simmons was walking down the street and happened upon the robbery, Stewart said.
“He wasn’t messing with nobody. He had no beef with nobody,” said the victim’s brother, Eddie Simmons.
Eddie Simmons said he and a cousin were at a convenience store getting something to eat when someone called his cellphone to report that Isaac Simmons had been shot.
The two rushed back to the area and found Isaac Simmons lying in the street, the victim’s brother said.
“I looked down at my brother and he was bleeding,” Eddie Simmons said.
Witnesses said both the driver of the truck and the passenger were firing guns, and police found numerous .40-caliber and .357-caliber bullet casings at the scene, Stewart said.
The men in the truck drove off after the shooting but witnesses told police the gunman in the passenger seat was Jerald Matthews, 26, Stewart said.
Clinton police and East Feliciana Parish sheriff’s deputies went to a residence in Ethel where Matthews once lived, but was told he had moved to Baton Rouge.
Police then received a tip that the truck was in the area of North Gerard Circle in Baton Rouge.
Stewart said the truck belonged to Matthews’ half-brother, who told police he had loaned it to Matthews.
Police seized the truck, which had bullet holes in the body and a shattered back window, and transferred it to the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab in Baton Rouge, Stewart said.
Police obtained an arrest warrant Thursday afternoon accusing Matthews of first-degree murder and were trying to learn the identity of the other man in the truck.
The Clinton Police Department was receiving assistance in the investigation from State Police, the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Office, Baton Rouge Police Department and the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office.