Kenner, Louisiana police testify to potential racial component in killing of handyman Lawrence Herr

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https://www.fox8live.com/2023/05/09/kenner-police-testify-potential-racial-component-killing-handyman-lawrence-herr/

 

 

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By Rob Masson

Published: May. 9, 2023

 

GRETNA, La. (WVUE) -- Kenner police on Tuesday (May 9) revealed new details and a possible racial component in last month’s fatal shooting of Metairie handyman Lawrence Herr, who was killed while working outside a Kenner house.

Police said one of the two suspects has admitted to his role in the crime, explaining they just wanted to go out and “kill a white guy.”

Tahj Matthews, 23, and Maurice Holmes, 25, have been booked with first-degree murder in connection with the slaying of Herr. The 66-year-old handyman also known as “Peanut” was gunned down April 10, seemingly without warning, while repairing a mailbox on Kenner’s Georgetown Place.

“We have not found any relation between the victim and the suspects,” Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley said Tuesday (May 9). “In fact, the victim’s back was to the suspects when the shots were fired.”

At a preliminary hearing Tuesday in Jefferson Parish’s magistrate court, Kenner Police detective Nicolas Engler testified that Matthews and Holmes were captured on surveillance video taken at a Clemson Drive apartment complex just two hours before the killing.

 

 

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May 23

 

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https://www.nola.com/news/jefferson_parish/men-plead-not-guilty-in-murder-of-metairie-maintenance-man/article_533c1bf4-330b-11ee-8ac4-dfaba057150e.html

 

 

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Suspects plead not guilty in murder of Metairie maintenance man

Michelle Hunter Aug 4, 2023

Two suspects accused of fatally shooting a maintenance man as he repaired a mailbox in Kenner have been indicted with first-degree murder, according to Jefferson Parish Court records.

Maurice Holmes, 26, pleaded not guilty Friday in Jefferson Parish Magistrate Court, four days after his alleged accomplice, Tahj Matthews, 23, entered the same plea. 

Holmes and Matthews are charged with killing 66-year-old Lawrence Herr of Metairie. Herr was shot in the back on the morning of April 10 while working on the mailbox at a residence on Georgetown Street in Kenner, according to the Kenner Police Department. 

A woman discovered Herr lying on the driveway about 11:15 a.m. Herr was taken to a hospital but died of his injuries, authorities said. 

 

Kenner police reviewed surveillance video and spotted a gray or silver-colored Mercedes turning onto and later speeding away from Georgetown Street about the time of the shooting, according to authorities. 

Investigators linked the vehicle to Matthews and located the car about two hours later, police said. Matthews and Holmes were inside the vehicle. 

Matthews admitted to driving the car to Georgetown Street with Homes as his front seat passenger with the intention of killing someone, authorities said. 

Matthews and Holmes were being held without bail at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna.

 

So in May it was :

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Police said one of the two suspects has admitted to his role in the crime, explaining they just wanted to go out and “kill a white guy.”

To now :

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Matthews admitted to driving the car to Georgetown Street with Homes as his front seat passenger with the intention of killing someone, authorities said.