2015 murder suspect caught

Published 5:17 am Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Twenty months after the shooting death of a Lumberton, Miss., man on a Bogalusa street, the third of three suspects — who was identified as the shooter — was arrested in Yuma County, Calif., on Friday.

Brandon Odel Lotts, 30, will be extradited back to Washington Parish to stand trial on the warrant for the first-degree murder of Trevante Toney, 21, in an apparent drug deal gone bad. Toney’s body was found in front of a house in the 700 block of East Fifth Street on Aug. 29, 2015.

Then-Police Chief Joe Culpepper said the police seized money and drugs from the scene, and that the shooter might have been injured in the course of the crime.

Two other suspects, Thelonious Williams and Charles Jenkins Jr., both of Lumberton, were apprehended shortly after the shooting and remain in the Washington Parish Jail awaiting trial.

Despite the injury, Lotts allegedly ran from the crime scene and was seen bleeding nearby at Bennie’s Wings & Things on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. But before the police arrived to question him, Lotts ran and hadn’t been seen since.

The suspected shooter reportedly has a long criminal history. Previous warrants charge Lotts with first-degree murder, convicted felon in possession of a firearm, dangerous use of a weapon, aggravated criminal damage to property, obstruction of justice, and possession with intent to distribute marijuana, heroin, cocaine and ecstasy.