Three McNeese football players arrested in shooting

Published 4:25 pm Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Four additional men — including three McNeese State University football players — have been charged in a Sept. 6 shooting near a campus apartment complex that left one injured.

Lake Charles Police Deputy Chief Franklin Fondel said Lathan A. Adams, 18, of Waxahachie, Texas; 19-year Davonte Simmons of Westwego; Travis L. Walker, 18, of Kenner; and Edward E. Gilds, 18, of Harvey; were all arrested Tuesday with the help of the department’s SWAT Team and the assistance of the McNeese State University Police Department.

Adams, Gilds and Walker are all freshman defensive backs and have been suspended indefinitely by the Athletic Department, according to McNeese Athletic Director Heath Schroyer.

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Fondel said several people, while standing outside the on-campus apartments on the corner of McNeese and Common streets, were fired upon by a moving vehicle earlier this month. He said a man with a gunshot wound was later treated at a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Fondel said the shooting was in retaliation for an armed robbery that occurred Aug. 30 at a local apartment complex.

A search warrant of the apartment complex in which Adams and Gilds live netted multiple firearms, ammunition, drugs and drug paraphernalia, Fondel said. Arrests warrants for Walker of Simmons were obtained based off those items recovered, he added.

Adams is charged with one count of aggravated battery, one count of armed robbery with use of a firearm and one count of illegal use of weapons or dangerous instruments. Judge Tony Fazzio set his bond at $80,000.

Gilds is charged with one count of armed robbery with use of a firearm and one count of illegal use of weapons or dangerous instruments. His bond has been set at $60,000.

Simmons is charged with one count of marijuana possession, one count of illegal possession of stolen firearms, three counts of firearm possession in the presence of CDS, one count of drug paraphernalia, one count of violation of controlled dangerous substance on college campus, one count of firearm-free zone violation and count of Schedule II possession. His bond has been set at $119,500.

Fondel said SWAT members previously arrested Malique Ezekiel Boutte in the shooting on Sept. 16. He was charged with four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, one count of aggravated second-degree battery and one count of illegal use of weapons or dangerous instrumentalities. His bond was set at $330,000.