Deputies say a 23-year-old New Orleans man was taken into custody at the scene after a man was found fatally shot inside a Severn Avenue apartment.
METAIRIE, La. — A New Orleans man was arrested late Friday after deputies found a man shot to death inside a Metairie apartment, and investigators say the suspect was still at the complex when they arrived.
Jefferson Parish authorities say the case moved quickly from a shooting call to a murder arrest, but many of the most important details were still unresolved by Saturday evening. Deputies booked 23-year-old Shaquille Lemay on a second-degree murder charge after they said he was found inside a vehicle in the apartment complex parking lot. Investigators have not released the victim’s name, have not described a possible motive, and have not said what led to the gunfire.
Deputies were called at about 10:30 p.m. Friday to an apartment complex in the 2300 block of Severn Avenue, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. When they reached the scene, they found a man in the living room of an apartment with at least one gunshot wound to the chest. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Sheriff’s officials said the investigation then turned to the parking lot, where Lemay was located in a vehicle and taken into custody. The sheriff’s office has not said whether witnesses saw the shooting, whether the suspect and victim knew each other, or whether officers recovered a weapon inside the apartment or nearby.
Authorities have released only a narrow set of facts. Lemay, identified by deputies as a 23-year-old from New Orleans, was booked on suspicion of second-degree murder. The victim’s age and identity were not made public Saturday, a common step in fatal cases while relatives are being notified. Officials also did not say how many people were inside the apartment at the time of the shooting or whether anyone else was injured. By limiting what they released, investigators left open central questions about what happened inside the unit in the minutes before gunfire erupted. There has been no public account yet of an argument, forced entry, or a call for help before deputies arrived.
The location of the shooting adds to concern because Severn Avenue is one of Metairie’s busiest corridors, lined with apartments, businesses and steady traffic not far from Veterans Memorial Boulevard. A homicide inside an apartment building can quickly widen an investigation beyond the people directly involved, requiring detectives to sort through possible witness statements, doorbell cameras, parking lot surveillance and any evidence left in shared spaces. In cases like this, investigators also work to establish a timeline showing who entered the apartment, who left, and whether there were earlier calls tied to the address. None of those details had been made public by Saturday.
The charge filed against Lemay means prosecutors believe the facts support a homicide case, but the legal process is only beginning. A booking on second-degree murder starts the court track, which can include a probable cause review, bond questions, appointment or retention of counsel, and later hearings if prosecutors formally pursue the case. Detectives are expected to continue interviewing witnesses, testing physical evidence and waiting on autopsy findings that could add detail about the victim’s injuries. The sheriff’s office has said the investigation remains active, which means more information, including the victim’s name and any account of what led to the shooting, could be released in the coming days.
By Saturday, the public picture of the case remained stark and unfinished: a late-night shooting call, a man dead in an apartment living room, and a suspect found nearby before he could leave the complex. That sequence gave deputies an early arrest, but not a full public explanation. For neighbors, the most visible part of the case was the sudden police response at a residential building. For investigators, the harder work now is filling in the blank spaces between the first report of gunfire and the decision to book Lemay on a murder charge.
The case remained under investigation Saturday, with no motive announced and no victim identification released. The next major developments are likely to come from the sheriff’s office, the coroner’s office, or early court proceedings tied to the murder charge.
Author note: Last updated April 19, 2026.