Taj Laurent Sr., a 51-year-old Black man from Marrero, Louisiana, was killed on Christmas night, December 25, 2023, after answering his daughter’s call for help. Laurent and his wife, JoAnn Nelson-Laurent, went to the Harvey apartment their daughter shared with her boyfriend, identified as Talvis Keller, to try to de-escalate a domestic dispute that began when the daughter found Keller in bed with another woman. During an argument, Keller armed himself with a semiautomatic pistol and shot the unarmed Laurent once in the face, killing him. The wife’s first 911 call asking deputies to intervene came four minutes before her second call reporting the shooting.

Keller fled and was located about 22 hours later at the Oasis Motel in Gretna, where detectives found him hiding inside a suitcase and arrested him on second-degree murder and obstruction of justice charges. Two others in the motel room, identified as Veranda Charles and Ketrone Robinson, were also arrested and charged with accessory after the fact.

Laurent was remembered by family as a loving husband, father, and grandfather and described by friends as a kind and humble Gentle Giant. What details about the events leading up to the shooting or the motel stop remain unclear to readers with information?