NEW ORLEANS — Ja'Quarius Taylor was shot three times in the head in Washington Parish on Jan. 12, authorities said. His body was found by a pond near Varnado.
Taylor's aunt, Uratha Bonner, said whoever shot Taylor made their intentions clear.
"They meant to kill him," said Bonner. "If you shoot somebody in the head, you mean to kill them. Point blank. Period."
Bonner said she feels there's been little progress from the Washing Parish Sheriff's Office to find her nephew's killer.
"It's not their number one priority at this time," said Bonner.
The attorney representing Taylor's family members, Alison McCrary said she doesn't trust the sheriff's department's handling of the investigation, asking the FBI to get involved because the case appears to be more than just murder.
"This is about human rights. It's about human dignity. It's about justice," said Alison McCrary.
The FBI and State Police have been conducted their own investigations, the sheriff's office said.
After seeing the details of the case, McCrary automatically thought it was a hate crime because Taylor was black and gay.
Bonner also said the case should be investigated as a hate crime, but the family didn't know that Taylor was gay.
The Washington Parish Sheriff's Office isn't ready to say if Taylor's murder was a hate crime, Chief Deputy Mike Haley said. However, WPSO is working to find who is responsible, working every lead.
"Until we can identify the shooter and can identify the motive of the shooter, it's really presumptuous to try to label this as any type of crime because we really don't know exactly what it was," Haley said.
Haley believes the murder was planned and carried out by one person, but trying to police rumors, speculation and allegations of bad police work complicates things, he said.
"Those unfounded allegations just tend to stir people up and emotions are never really a good part of an investigation," said Haley.
McCrary and Taylor's family said they're just hoping justice will come quickly, despite their distrust of WPSO.
"It's hard to sleep at night when you know that your son has been kidnapped and murdered, and no information has been shared," said McCrary. "There's a lack of trust and confidence in the investigation process."
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