Man shot, killed in north BR Thursday night
Brittney Horton had no idea when she answered the knock at her door shortly before midnight Thursday that she was standing face-to-face with the man who would, just minutes later, kill her little brother.
The man was polite, and said his name was “Izzy,” she said. He looked young, like he could be one of her brother’s classmates at Scotlandville Magnet High School.
Without a second thought, Horton, 23, said, she walked back into the living room where her 18-year-old brother, Ty O’Brian Porter, was lying on the couch with his dog, watching “Family Guy” on TV.
“A guy named ‘Izzy’ is here to talk to you,” she told him.
Porter made a face like he had no idea who Izzy was, she recalled Friday.
The two men went outside to talk on the driveway outside Porter’s home at 1863 Curtis St., she said.
About three minutes later, Horton heard gunshots. She grabbed her own gun and rushed outside.
“I knew the second I saw him on his back, eyes open, no movement — I knew he was gone,” she said.
As her brother lay dead on the driveway behind her, Horton said, she fired several rounds at the two male figures she could see biking away from her house.
The men returned fire, she said. Nobody was hit in the exchange, she said.
“All I could scream was, ‘You killed my brother’” she said.
Police arrived at 11:55 p.m. to find Porter’s body on the driveway beside a parked car, police said.
Police spokesman Cpl. L’Jean McKneely said detectives were following up on leads Friday, though they had not named a suspect.
“This was caused by some sort of dispute or argument,” McKneely said. “All the guys knew each other. This is all a neighborhood thing.”
Horton said a man had apparently ordered her brother killed after accusing him of stealing “a lot” of drugs in May, an accusation Porter denied.
Porter had been receiving death threats all summer. Someone had thrown glass bottles at Porter while he was driving, Horton said.
About a week ago, someone drove by and shot two bullets into the family’s house, she said.
“We gave BRPD all the info,” she said. “They didn’t make no move. I guess you have to see a body before you try to put a stop to it.”
Police spokesman McKneely said he could not confirm the previous shooting incident at the house, citing the ongoing investigation.
Horton said her bother was an outgoing, playful person who liked to joke and make up rap rhymes.
“He was my best friend,” she said. “That was my world.”
Anyone with information about the homicide is asked to call police at (225) 389-4869 or Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-STOP.