By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

RESERVE – A pair of homicides in the Reserve area over the weekend has the area a little on edge as residents speculate whether the two incidents are related.

A 23-year-old Jamar Vinnette and 29-year-old Eliza Fleming were shot and killed in two separate incidents within a 10-block span in the small community, and the sudden surge in violence has a few residents worried.

“Yeah we are scared, who wouldn’t be scared if two shootings occurred near where you live,” said resident Jermaine Williams, who lives around the corner from where one of the incidents took place. “We haven’t had crime like this in quite some time.”

Darnell Walter, 67, who has lived in Reserve all his life, said the area has never been immune to criminal activity, but the last few days have him concerned.

“Two young men gunned down in two days,” Walter said. “It just isn’t right. We need to do something. We hear that they might not be related, but you never know. It is too close.”

Sheriff Wayne L. Jones said Tuesday investigators believe both incidents were “drug related” and that the victims were intended targets.

“These were not random acts of violence,” Jones said. “Regardless of the motive, every homicide is a priority in this office and we will continue to stay focused in capturing suspects.”

Jones also said detectives are looking into the possibility that both shootings are linked. He said bullet casings from both homicides are being examined at the State Police Crime Lab in Baton Rouge in an effort to see if the same weapon was used in both murders.

“What we are really looking for is assistance from the community,” Jones said. “Our detectives understand that it is certainly difficult to get some people to come forward, but we know there were some witnesses who saw what happened.

The first incident, in which Vinnette was gunned down in the 100 block of East 13th Street, occurred Friday just before 2 p.m., according to a release from the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office.

When deputies arrived at the scene, they found Vinnette lying in a ditch near the road. Capt. Dane Clement, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said Vinnette had gunshot wounds to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Witnesses told investigators that a male subject walked up to Vinnette and shot him in the street. Clement said the alleged gunman, who fled the area on foot toward East 12th Street, was described as wearing dark clothing and had two shirts covering his face.

Witnesses also said the gunman threatened another woman in the area, but she left the scene unharmed.

The Sheriff’s Office was notified of the second incident Sunday just after 10 p.m., when a woman called police after she found her boyfriend, Fleming, unresponsive inside a home in the 200 block of East 23rd Street.

Clement said deputies arrived at the scene to find Fleming bleeding profusely from gunshot wounds. Fleming was also pronounced dead at the scene. Clement said detectives would not say where Fleming was shot because of investigative reasons, but an autopsy confirmed the cause of death to be gunshot wounds.

Fleming’s death marks the third homicide of the year in St. John Parish. Anyone with information regarding either incident should call St. John the Baptist Parish detectives at 985-652-6338 or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.