RESERVE — Theron Williams, 25, of New Orleans was the first subject arrested in connection to the double homicide that claimed the lives of cousins Kerell Sanders, 18, and Kyron Perrilloux, 20, late Monday night.

Williams was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of second-degree murder, according to the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office. During discussion with family members of the deceased, investigators were told the subject is a relative of the victims.

Williams was being held in St. John Parish with a $500,000 bond as of press time Friday.

Just after midnight Tuesday morning, St. John Parish deputies discovered Kerell and Kyron in a vehicle that crashed into a ditch at West Airline Highway and East 22nd Street in Reserve.

Both young men had “hunted down” and fatally shot, according to Tregre.

Family, friends and community members attended a balloon release and vigil Thursday evening in Reserve, as white and blue balloons were released into the sky to memorialize young lives lost far too soon.

Shondrell Perrilloux, Kyron’s aunt and Kerell’s cousin, is hopeful justice will prevail. She asks that others do not turn grief into violence.

“I’m just hoping that what happened with my nephew and my little cousin does not stimulate more violence,” Shondrell said. “Our family is requesting that the public would allow the judicial system justice and not the street code justice. We don’t want to be associated with any more violent activity associated with somebody else losing (his or her) life. We just want the justice system to take its course.”

Shondrell hopes the tragedy will open the eyes of the community leaders to realize St. John Parish is losing too many young people to senseless crimes.

Kyron had a very humorous personality, according to Shondrell.

“He was known for always being respectable toward his elders, and he had a habit of saying ‘I love you’ whenever he was about to depart your presence. That would be his saying.”

Kyron’s aunt Sha’Tara Sanders also remembers his loving nature. She mourns how she will never hear him say “I love you,” again or playfully argue with him about ringing her doorbell all hours of the night and somehow managing to use all of the towels in her house.

She said the family is still aching from the loss of 20-year-old Kyree Jones to a quadruple shooting on May 29 in Reserve. According to Sha’Tara Sanders, Kyree was almost like a brother to her nephew.

Kyron and Kerell’s deaths mark the seventh and eighth homicides of the year in St. John the Baptist Parish.

Kerell was a 2019 East St. John High School graduate, only weeks away from leaving home to attend Southeastern Louisiana University.

According to Shondrell Perrilloux, Kerell was not a troubled child.

“He was not a street child,” Shondrell said. “It’s disturbing to see he lost his life so mysteriously. He had nothing to do with it.”

Motives for the killings were not known as of Thursday, according to police.

Laverne Sanders, Kyron’s grandmother and Kerell’s aunt, said the cousins were close and had a relationship of “peace, love and joy.”

Kerell’s mother, Keisha Sanders, has experienced more than enough tragedy to last a lifetime. In 2008, she had to bury her 2-month-old and 18-month-old sons after losing them in a horrific apartment fire.

In a recent interview with Fox 8, Keisha Sanders described her eldest son’s loss as devastating.

“He was a light in the midst of darkness,” she said. “How I am feeling cannot be described in words.”

The following GoFundMe accounts have been set up to aid in final expenses for the families:

• Kerell Sanders – gofundme.com/kerell-sanders
• Kyron Perrilloux – https://www.gofundme.com/f/kyron039s-memorial-fund