BATON ROUGE, La. — Jace Boyd admitted shooting Danny Buckley, who police have described as a panhandler, Saturday night outside a Louisiana Trader Joe’s. Instead of taking Boyd into custody, investigators let him go home.
Four days later, Baton Rouge police officials are asking the public for help tracking down the 24-year-old, who has been charged with second-degree murder and illegal use of a weapon.
Police officials said the shooting took place around 7 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of a Trader Joe’s at 3535 Perkins Road. Officers who responded to the scene found Buckley, 61, of Baton Rouge, suffering from at least one gunshot wound.
He later died at a hospital.
The Advocate in Baton Rouge reported that Buckley was Black. Boyd, who claimed he fired in self-defense, is white.
Buckley’s death and the lack of an immediate arrest led to a public outcry, the newspaper reported. The arrest warrant issued for Boyd has not been made public, leaving unknown detectives’ reasons for pressing forward with an arrest.
A police report obtained by the paper alleged that Buckley was “aggressively harassing customers” in the store parking lot prior to the shooting. According to the Advocate, the report does not elaborate on his behavior or say if Buckley was also armed.
The newspaper reported that Buckley was a familiar face in the parking lot, where he has often been seen and would sometimes ask people for money.
East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said in a statement Tuesday that she was concerned about the shooting.
“Every citizen deserves to be treated justly, and I promise to the residents of East Baton Rouge Parish that this investigation will be conducted fairly,” Broome wrote on Twitter. “The situation is still under investigation, and I have spoken to Chief Murphy Paul and asked him to conduct a fair and transparent review of what happened. I appreciate the citizens who have come forward with information thus far and welcome any other information citizens may have.”
The warrant for Boyd’s arrest was made public a few hours later.
Attorneys representing Buckley’s family told The Advocate they question whether Buckley could have posed a threat to anyone. The older man reportedly suffered from medical issues that they said interfered with his mobility.
The attorneys have met with detectives and interviewed three witnesses to the shooting. One of those witnesses, using only the name Kaylee, posted details on Twitter in which she said she was the last person Buckley asked for money before he was shot.
“I never felt threatened by Mr. Buckley in any way,” the woman tweeted.
Kaylee, 21, also spoke to WAFB in Baton Rouge.
“Yes, he did ask for money,” she told the news station. “Yes, maybe he did come a little into my space to speak to me, but that’s not a death sentence.”
The woman said she didn’t have any cash, so she and her roommate walked on without engaging in conversation with Buckley. As she got to their car, she heard another male voice confronting the panhandler, she said.
“I looked over and I could see him, and he said, ‘Hey, leave those girls alone,’” Kaylee told WAFB. “Well, then I got into my car because I don’t like confrontation.”
Moments later, she and her roommate heard the gunshot.
“(My roommate) thought something had fallen to the ground,” Kaylee said. “She thought she had dropped something. She ends up getting into the car and she says, ‘I think that guy has a gun.’ And I was, like, ‘There’s no way.’”
It was, in fact, a gun the women had heard. Kaylee told the news station Buckley fell to the ground, but appeared to be getting up. The women did not realize how badly he had been injured until police showed up.
Kaylee told WAFB that she tried to give Baton Rouge police officers a statement but was rebuffed. She gave a statement the following morning.
“Whenever I gave my statement, I made sure to tell them that I never felt threatened as a young woman,” she said. “I’m 21, (a) white female, so that’s why we were so confused that why this man just felt that this was the necessary action to take. We couldn’t really believe it.”
“It’s the position of the family that Mr. Buckley was the victim of a hate crime,” attorney Ryan Thompson told The Advocate.
Critics on the Baton Rouge Police Department’s Facebook page accused detectives of giving Boyd a “running start” by allowing him to go home Saturday night.
“Y’all had him the day of the shooting,” one commenter wrote. “Why’d you let him go?”
Sgt. L’Jean McKneely Jr., a police spokesman, told The Advocate that investigators did not have enough evidence to affect an arrest the night of the shooting.
They needed time to interview witnesses, review security footage and collect additional evidence, McKneely said.
Anyone with information on Boyd’s whereabouts is asked to call Greater Baton Rouge Crime Stoppers at 225-344-STOP (7867) or visit crimestoppersbr.com. Tipsters, who may remain anonymous, are eligible for a cash reward.