Three Baton Rouge residents are in custody following a homicide Tuesday evening in the parking lot of the Watson McDonald's on Highway 16.
Livingston Parish Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the scene around 7 p.m. after a man was found dead in the driver's seat of a vehicle from an apparent gunshot wound. The victim was identified as Mitchell Ventress, 26, of Denham Springs.
Sheriff Jason Ard said witnesses reported two males exiting the passenger side of the vehicle after hearing a gunshot. Investigators developed a suspect vehicle that was later located in the Central area of East Baton Rouge Parish. Deputies stopped the vehicle and detained Kevonta Dennis, 25, and Keondra McNeely, 26, both of Baton Rouge.
A search warrant was executed at an apartment on Sully Drive in East Baton Rouge Parish, where the pair had recently been. Additional individuals were transported for questioning, and detectives later arrested Keedrick Jack, 39, of Baton Rouge.
Ard said Dennis and Jack had gone to the McDonald's parking lot to meet with Ventress to purchase narcotics. Ventress was shot and killed during the meeting for reasons that remain under investigation.
All three suspects are currently being held at an East Baton Rouge Parish facility with a hold for LPSO and will be transported to the Livingston Parish Detention Center for processing.
The investigation is ongoing. LPSO was assisted by the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office and the LSP Crime Lab.
