On the evening of December 22, 2017, two masked gunmen opened fire on three men sitting outside a residence on DeJean Circle in Crowley, Louisiana, near the parish jail. Among the wounded was 47-year-old Howard Ray Clayborne. The attack, reported around 5:20 p.m., also critically injured Gregory Troy Gray and Troy Harmon; a two-year-old child was found unharmed inside the home.

Clayborne, described as African American, was transported to a Lafayette-area hospital and died of his wounds on January 4, 2018, after nearly two weeks on life support. Police described the shooting as an ambush and said investigators were looking into whether it was connected to another shooting the previous week on Mill Street and South Parkerson Avenue. No suspects have been publicly identified or arrested.

Anyone with information about the December 22 ambush on DeJean Circle is asked to come forward.