Overview
- Two masked gunmen opened fire on a gray sedan at the Chevron on U.S. Highway 190 in Hammond, discharging an estimated 70 to 80 rounds and killing 50-year-old Patricia Sheppard early Thursday, June 4.
- Security camera footage shows two suspects wearing dark clothing and armed with AR-style pistols exiting a white sedan and repeatedly firing into the rear passenger side of the gray car before fleeing west toward Interstate 55.
- Police say the shooters followed the gray sedan from an earlier stop and now believe the attackers mistook Sheppard for their intended target, who had left the vehicle before the shooting.
- Investigators linked the white sedan to a carjacking or theft in McComb, Mississippi earlier in the week, and Hammond police say they are pursuing leads on two to three suspects with no arrests announced.
- The homicide probe remains active with authorities using surveillance video and forensic follow-up, asking the public to contact Detective Dustin Williams or Crime Stoppers with tips and noting the driver who brought the victim to the station is not believed to be involved.