Hammond, La — Patricia Shepard, 50, was killed in a violent early-morning shooting that unfolded at a Chevron gas station along Highway 190 near Westin Oak Drive. Police say she was not the intended target and was caught in a case of mistaken identity.
Officers from the Hammond Police Department arrived around 1:15 a.m. after multiple reports of gunfire. Inside a gray sedan parked at a pump, they found Shepard suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators say surveillance footage shows a white sedan pulling up beside the gray vehicle. Two armed suspects then exited and opened fire without warning.
Authorities estimate that between 70 and 80 rounds were fired into the car in a short burst of violence. The intensity of the shooting left the vehicle heavily damaged and the scene chaotic.
Police say the suspects fled immediately after the attack in the white sedan, heading west toward Interstate 55. The vehicle was later linked to a carjacking in McComb, Mississippi, just days earlier.
Hammond Police Chief Edwin Bergeron Jr. said evidence suggests the shooters were targeting someone else they believed was inside the car. That person had already left the vehicle before the shooting began.
Investigators believe Shepard was simply getting a ride home from work when she was caught in the attack. Officials described her as an innocent passenger in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The case remains under active investigation as authorities continue tracking the suspects and their possible motives.
