Two teenagers are facing first-degree murder and attempted murder charges in connection with the shooting death of 18-year-old Jeffari Kaglear, who was killed just three weeks after his high school graduation. Johnni Paul, 17, and Cameron Ruffin, 18, were arrested Thursday and booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison after U.S. Marshals tracked them down, months after the deadly shooting on Boulevard de Province.
The Baton Rouge Police Department said the two arrests came in connection with the death of the 18-year-old, according to WAFB. Paul and Ruffin were booked on first-degree murder and attempted murder charges, and both were taken into custody by U.S. Marshals before landing in the parish jail.
Kaglear was shot in the 1700 block of Boulevard de Province, the same street WAFB identified back in June as the scene of the shooting that eventually took his life. The station's earlier report said the shooting happened on the afternoon of Sunday, June 14, and that Kaglear was rushed to a hospital in critical condition before later dying from his injuries.
Conflicting Accounts of the Shooting's Timing
Exactly when the shooting unfolded that Sunday afternoon has been described slightly differently across outlets. theadvocate.com reported that Kaglear was shot at 2 p.m., while a separate account from WBRZ said police reported officers arriving at the scene around 2:30 p.m. to find him suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Either way, the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner's Office identified him as the 18-year-old victim, and the Baton Rouge Police Department responded and opened an investigation that stretched for months before this week's arrests.
A Graduate's Life Cut Short
Kaglear's death came just weeks after he walked across the stage for his high school graduation, according to the seed facts behind WAFB's report. The gap between that milestone and his killing on Boulevard de Province underscores how abruptly the shooting upended what should have been a celebratory summer for the teen and his family.
The case lands amid a broader backdrop of gun violence in Baton Rouge. By the midpoint of 2026, the city had recorded 42 homicides since January, matching the same number recorded at the midpoint of 2025, per theadvocate.com's review of police data. Parishwide, East Baton Rouge had logged 53 homicides by June 30, 2026, identical to the parish total at the end of June the year before, and the same report found that overall gun violence across the city was up 2 percent compared with the prior year.
Police Point to a Familiar Pattern
Baton Rouge Police Chief T.J. Morse has said that many of the department's homicide cases follow a familiar arc, with an escalating argument — often playing out on social media — ultimately leading to a shooting, according to the same Advocate report on the city's midyear crime numbers. It is unclear whether that pattern applies to the circumstances surrounding Kaglear's death, as investigators have not detailed a motive in the case.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to contact the Baton Rouge Police Department's Violent Crimes Unit at 225-389-4869, or to reach Crime Stoppers at 225-344-7867.
