A 25-year-old employee was shot and killed early Wednesday morning after he refused to hand over cash to a robber who stormed into a Baton Rouge meat market, according to investigators. Abdallahi Baba died inside City Town Meat Market #3, in the 4800 block of Beechwood Drive, after a man entered demanding money and opened fire when Baba would not comply.
Baton Rouge Police officers responded to reports of a shooting around 5:20 a.m. on Wednesday and found multiple shell casings along with Baba's body inside the store, according to WBRZ. Unfiltered with Kiran reported that investigators believe the gunman may have used a rifle during the attempted robbery. The East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner's Office identified Baba, 25, as the victim and reported that he was killed in what officials described as a botched robbery-turned-shooting, per WBRZ.
Baba was shot around 5:30 a.m. near the corner of Beechwood Drive and Sycamore Street, the intersection where the market sits.
A Longtime Neighborhood Grocery Stop
City Town Meat Market #3 was formerly Ragusa's Meat Market, and Beechwood Meat Market was listed at 4850 Beechwood Drive in 2014. The property was selected in 2014 for inclusion in East Baton Rouge Parish's Healthy Corner Store initiative, according to the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation.
The shooting adds to a troubling pattern of gun violence along the same stretch of roadway. In April, 19-year-old Montrell Nover was shot and killed on Sycamore Street, per WBRZ's earlier coverage. Earlier, in March, 23-year-old William Hills was fatally shot on Beechwood Street near Evangeline Street following an altercation.
A Previous Shooting on Sycamore Street
The violence near Beechwood and Sycamore stretches back further. In April 2024, Baton Rouge Police Homicide Detectives and the U.S. Marshals Task Force arrested a 21-year-old man for first-degree murder following a fatal shooting on Sycamore Street, according to a statement from the City of Baton Rouge at the time.
What Baba's Killer Could Face
Under Louisiana Revised Statute § 14:30.1, a killing committed during the perpetration or attempted perpetration of an armed robbery constitutes second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, according to the Louisiana State Legislature.
As of Wednesday, it was unclear whether police had any suspects in Baba's killing.
