ABILLE, La. (KLFY) – Police continue to investigate a homicide that happened Monday night on Israel Parker Drive, and two people are now in jail in connection to the crime.
Carlton Hills, 57, faces six charges, including second-degree murder, three counts of obstruction of justice, second-degree cruelty to a minor and a gun-free zone violation.
Investigators also arrested suspect Laticia Lewis, 42, on three counts of second-degree cruelty to a minor, ringleadership to second-degree murder and failure to report certain felonies.
Hills’ bail is set at $415,000 and Lewis’ bail is set at $150,000. Both are being held at the Vermilion Parish Correctional Center.
“People were trapped, someone died, and I always wonder: Was that a last resort? You know what I mean? Could something have been done to prevent this?” asked the Rev. Lawrence Levy, an Abbeville native and community activist.
He said the area where the recent murders occurred is widely known for having high crime rates in the area.
“That area has always been a high crime area, and Abbeville as a whole, but that area attracts a lot of people because the Live Oak Manor Apartments are right next door,” he said. [crime] “It’s slowed down a little bit, but it still has that aura and that personality. So at the end of the day, I just pray for the cities in that particular area.”
Over the years, News 10 has reported on several crimes involving gun violence on or near the street where the most recent murder occurred. Police arrested several men and juveniles after a shooting in and around the Live Oak Manor Apartments on Martin Luther King Drive, and a shooting at the intersection of Schlesinger Street and Maude Avenue in which a teenager was shot in the head as he got off his school bus. And 14-year-old Dylan Plowden lost his life to gun violence while trying to buy a soda from an outdoor vending machine on the street where the most recent murder occurred.
“These areas need some support, not just from police officers, but from the public. People in the community need to speak up about what’s going on in their communities so we can have a safer place for babies, for growing kids, for kids who go to school in those areas, for innocent kids who just want to play outside and ride their bikes,” Levy said.
“At the end of the day, I believe we as a community have work to do outside of city politics,” he said.
Abbeville police have not yet released the identity of the victim in Monday night’s homicide but say their family has been notified. A motive has not yet been made public for the shooting at 1401 Israel Parker Drive. But Levy added that there is a big communication problem in some black communities.
“We have to learn how to start taking precautions,” Levy said.
“We don’t know how to communicate respectfully without violence when we have an argument. That’s one of the biggest problems we see in the African-American community. We don’t know how to articulate ourselves, we don’t know how to express ourselves when we have a disagreement without violence,” he said.
“I love my city and I pray for my city,” Levy said.
He plans to host a “Stop the Violence” rally soon.
