Shreveport Teen Sentenced for Tinseltown Shooting Spree

A Shreveport teen convicted in connection with a shooting spree near Tinseltown theater two years ago that ended with a homicide, has been sentenced for the second-degree murder and numerous associated crimes.

Ja’shun Smith, 18, but aged 15 at the time of the September 4, 2021, shootings, was sentenced Tuesday, November 28, 2023 by Caddo District Judge John D. Mosely Jr. He was found guilty as charged of 13 counts October 25.

Smith received a mandatory life term in prison, with the possibility of parole, for the slaying of 13-year-old Kelvontae Daigre. The other guilty verdicts were for eight counts of attempted second-degree murder and four counts of aggravated criminal property damage. For these crimes, Judge Mosely sentenced Smith to 30 years at hard labor, with the possibility of parole, for each of the eight counts of attempted second-degree murder, concurrent to each other, but consecutive to the murder sentence, and to 15 years at hard labor for the four aggravated property damage convictions, concurrent to each other but consecutive to the attempted murder sentences.

Around 10:30 p.m. September 4, 2021, Smith was driving a grey Kia Optima that had just left Tinseltown after a shooting in the theater parking lot. He headed to the Circle K at the corner of Youree Drive and East Bert Kouns Industrial Loop, where he stopped his car and waited for a white Honda Accord to come to the intersection. When that Accord stopped at the intersection, Smith exited the driver’s seat of the Optima, which was owned by his girlfriend, and began firing a rifle at the intersection. Other occupants of the Optima, who are awaiting trial for their part in the shootings, also fired shots into the intersection.

Daigre was in the back seat of the Accord; he was struck in the back and killed. The driver of that car also was injured. Three other cars in the intersection, with seven people inside, were shot up, with one other passenger being struck by a bullet. Diagonally across the intersection, WK Pierremont Medical Center also was damaged by the gunfire. Shreveport Police collected 50 spent shell casings from the Circle K parking lot.

Smith was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Courtney N. Ray, William J. Edwards and Cheyenne Y. Wilson. He was defended by Casey Simpson, Madi Crusan and Harry Johnson.

The case was docket No. 397671.