KENNER, La. — Two men are in custody, charged in last week’s armed robbery and murder of a Kenner convenience store clerk.
According to police, Eric Rodgers, 29 and his brother Lamonte Loggins, 28, were the two masked robbers who stormed into a Shell gas station near Williams Boulevard and West Esplanade Avenue demanding money.
The crime happened on November 30 shortly after 2 a.m.
“There weren't any underlying circumstances other than a clerk picking up an extra shift to provide for his family,” Kenner Police Chief Michael Glaser said. “Two guys come in, rob him and ultimately shoot and kill him for zero reason.”
U.S. Marshals arrested Loggins on Tuesday and Rodgers Wednesday night. They were hiding out in different homes with relatives and friends in Memphis, Tennessee.
Investigators say Loggins was the one who shot and killed the clerk, 30-year-old Abd El Ghader Sylla.
Sylla gave the robbers all the cash in his drawer and he was on his knees, pleading for his life when he was killed.
“We took this immediate threat off the street,” said Scott Illing, U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Louisiana. “The way this murder occurred was senseless. It was cold-blooded and it was a threat to everyone in the Kenner and JP area in our communities.”
Police say tips and videos from Kenner neighbors helped solve the crime.
Security cameras from dozens of homes and businesses tracked the movements of Loggins and Rodgers after the killing.
They showed the brothers leave the gas station in a car and arrive at an apartment complex a mile and a half away in north Kenner.
The Jefferson Parish crime lab obtained a DNA profile and a match pointing to one of the suspects.
“I always say that our job is to solve crime quickly to try and prevent the next crime from happening,” Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto said. “We hope crimes like this never happen again.”
Loggins was booked with first-degree murder. Rodgers was arrested on a second-degree murder charge.
"The second one did not have the intent to kill,” Chief Glaser said. “We tried first-degree. The (judicial) commissioner wouldn’t sign it. We had to settle for second-degree. I still think I can argue first degree on both, but that’s another day.”
Both brothers also face armed robbery charges.
Glaser said Loggins and Rodgers have criminal histories in multiple states in the south.
“The younger brother, he’s only 28 years old and he spent 11 of the 28 years in prison,” Glaser said.
The suspects moved to Kenner with their mother two years ago. They are originally from Memphis.
Loggins and Rodgers remain in the Shelby County, Tennessee jail awaiting extradition back to Louisiana.
Sylla leaves behind a wife, a 1-year-old, and a child on the way.
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