Andrew Davis IV, a 21-year-old Black man from Slidell, Louisiana, was a healthcare worker and a loving father to a young son. His mother, Tamara Arnold, remembered him as a caring person who could light up any room, loved telling jokes, and enjoyed making TikTok videos. He was on his way to pick up his two-year-old son on the afternoon of August 17, 2024, when his life was cut short in a planned robbery.
That day, Davis was lured to the Westchase Apartments in the 1000 block of Manhattan Boulevard in Harvey under the pretense of selling marijuana. He arrived around 1 p.m. with his girlfriend in his black Honda HRV. After he parked, two men, later identified as Dekias Stevenson and Lavanta Carto, got into the back seat of his car. Both men were armed, and they intended to rob Davis. A shootout erupted inside the vehicle. Davis was shot multiple times in the face, neck, and back.
A fatal bullet entered his chin, severing his spinal cord and an artery, and he died within minutes.
When the gunfire began, Davis’s girlfriend ran from the car and took cover. After the shooters fled, she returned to the driver’s seat, moved Davis, and drove to a nearby shopping center parking lot in the 800 block of Manhattan Boulevard to seek help. She stopped in front of a shoe store when she saw police, but it was too late. Andrew Davis IV was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office investigation soon uncovered the plot to rob Davis of marijuana. They identified Dekias Stevenson, who lived at the apartment complex, and Lavanta Carto as the men who had entered Davis’s car. While Stevenson was taken into custody, Carto remained at large for a time, and CrimeStoppers offered an increased reward of $10,000 for information leading to his arrest.
The search for Carto ended with his apprehension, and both men were brought to trial for the murder of Andrew Davis. In June 2026, a Jefferson Parish jury found Lavanta Carto guilty of second-degree murder, obstruction of justice, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
His co-conspirator, Dekias Stevenson, was also held accountable for his role in the deadly robbery. In October 2026, a jury convicted him of second-degree murder and obstruction of justice. A judge subsequently sentenced Stevenson to a mandatory term of life in prison for the murder, with a concurrent 40-year sentence for the obstruction charge, bringing the case to a close.
