A Louisiana girl, 11, and her uncle who were gunned down earlier this month were collateral damage, with the shooters having missed their intended target, a local sheriff said.
Samiya McClain and her uncle Ron Tate were fatally shot inside Tate’s home near Sugar Ridge Road and Cinclair Loop. The family gathered for a 3-year-old’s birthday party. They were not the intended targets.
Cartez Foster, 23, and Patrick Maxon, 26, are in custody and face two counts each of first-degree murder among some other charges, with deputies from the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office apprehending them after they were able to link the tragic Oct. 4 shooting to a fight that had occurred earlier that evening.
St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff Mike Tregre said the shooting was a “revenge attack” following a series of violent incidents earlier that evening. Samiya and her uncle were caught in the crossfire and were not the targets.
The suspects appear in their mugshots
The suspects were arrested in nearby Jefferson Parish after deputies tracked them down ( Image: St. John The Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office)
Foster and Maxon had reportedly gotten into an altercation with at least one person, who beat them after they allegedly pistol-whipped a woman earlier in the night.
Deputies found that woman in a local hospital, local station WGNO reported, and spoke with her, and that’s when they learned that another person or people — Tregre didn’t specify how many — beat the two men for what they did to her. That fight happened near East St. John High School Football Stadium.
In an act of revenge for the initial act of revenge, the two men allegedly intended to kill the person or people who beat them after the pistol-whipping, but they ended up missing their mark and shooting into Tate’s home, hitting him and young Samiya and ending their lives.
