By LEONARD GRAY – Managing Editor

RESERVE – St. John the Baptist Parish’s second homicide of the year resulted from a reported drive-by shooting Friday night on a quiet residential street in Reserve, according to authorities.

Lionel “Scooter” Joseph Griffin, 20, of 310 E. 24th St. in Reserve, had just returned home from getting a haircut when a passing yellow or cream-colored Buick Century passed in front of the house, where Griffin talked with several friends.

Six or seven gunshots broke the stillness of the evening at 6:15 p.m. and Griffin was the only person struck by bullets, according to Capt. Michael Tregre of the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Falling short of calling the homicide gang-related, Tregre said the incident “involves a group of young men who seem to have problems whenever they meet up.”

Tregre added, “They’re not organized gangs. Just groups of young men.”

The sheriff’s office received the call of the shooting at 6:48 p.m., and Griffin was transported first to River Parishes Hospital for initial treatment and stabilization, then transferred to Charity Hospital in New Orleans.

There, Tregre said, Griffin succumbed to his wound at 10:45 p.m.

This was the second reported homicide of 2004, Tregre said, the first being that of Edward Placide Sr. in February. His son, Edward Jr., is awaiting trial on that case.

Anyone with information to assist investigator Lt. Ken Mitchell please call 652-2773, Tregre added.