NEW ORLEANS — Three Mississippi natives accused in the December 2018 murder of a Bogalusa gas station owner pleaded guilty this week. The shooter was sentenced to life in prison.
Levi Lee, 17, of Tylertown, Miss., pleaded guilty to shooting 53-year-old Abdulraham Alaquir Taleb point blank with a shotgun in the early hours of Dec. 28, 2018 as he and and Lance Rouse, 25, of Picayune, Miss., robbed the JZ Quick Shop on Highway 21 in Bogalusa.
22nd Judicial District Judge William Burris sentenced Lee on Wednesday to life in prison for second-degree murder and two counts of armed robbery. He and Rouse face additional charges for an alleged home burglary prior to the fatal robbery, in which prosecutors say he and Rouse stole the shotgun used to kill Taleb from a Covington home.
Lee also pleaded guilty to starting a fire in the Bogalusa jail that forced an evacuation and caused slight damage to the building as he awaited trial.
Rouse was sentenced to 100 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and two counts of armed robbery.
According to prosecutors, Rouses' girlfriend, 30-year-old Melissa Smith of Tylertown, Miss., was inside the getaway vehicle as Lee and Rouse sped off after shooting Taleb in the parking lot and stealing less than $500 from the register and a customer in the store.
Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The Night Of
Around 4:20 a.m. on Dec. 28, 2018, the trio pulled into the J and Z Quik Shop on Highway 21 at City Limits Road in Washington Parish.
Surveillance video captured the moment that Lee points a shotgun at Taleb, the store's owner and clerk on duty, and shoots him in his leg during a struggle, according to prosecutors.
Rouse Taleb, who lived on the outskirts of Bogalusa, was rushed to University Medical Center and died there two days later. At trial, Taleb's wife and daughter gave impacts statements to the judge. Both reportedly agreed to the terms of the pleas.
With their faces covered with bandannas, Rouse and Lee stole about $250 from the register and robbed a customer inside the store of about $180, then fled the state with Smith.
They first stopped in Mississippi, prosecutors said, to pick up an unnamed juvenile from a motel.
The four drove to Alabama, where they were spotted by police and captured after a car chase that ended when law enforcement laid down road spikes to stop the suspects.
The Aftermath
Besides the unnamed juvenile, the suspects were returned to the Washington Parish Jail on Dec. 29 and had remained there since January.
On Nov. 8, a grand jury indicted the men in the burglary of a Covington home a week before the store robbery. According to prosecutors, they broke into the home, went to a woman's bedroom and held her at gunpoint before stealing two shotguns and other items.
Prosecutors in the 22nd Judicial District said one of those shotguns matched the description of the weapon used to kill Taleb.
In July, Lee was also re-booked and charged after he was allegedly caught on camera starting a fire in the Washington Parish jail along with another inmate. The fire forced the evacuation of dozens of inmates and staff members.
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