Jace Boyd

Jace Boyd

Baton Rouge police asked the public for help capturing a murder suspect Wednesday, four days after detectives interviewed the man about the weekend shooting of a panhandler outside Trader Joe's and then released him without charges. 

 

A police report said Jace Boyd, 24, had acknowledged shooting Danny Buckley, 61, on Saturday night. Officers contacted Boyd on the scene and later interviewed him about the shooting but did not arrest him, pending a further investigation. A police spokesman said Wednesday that Boyd had claimed self-defense.

Police issued a warrant for Boyd late Tuesday afternoon, alleging second-degree murder. The department posted on its Facebook page on Wednesday that anyone with information about his whereabouts should contact Crime Stoppers, the local organization that fields anonymous tips and offers cash rewards to the tipsters.

There had been some question as to whether Boyd would turn himself in, but police sent out the Crime Stoppers alert around noon Wednesday, including a photo of Boyd from his driver's license.

The exact circumstances of the shooting remain murky, but Buckley was "aggressively harassing customers" in the Trader Joe's parking lot, according to a police report obtained by The Advocate. The question is whether his actions were aggressive enough to justify Boyd's decision to fire a gun at him. 

Detectives contacted Boyd on the scene and later interviewed him but chose not to arrest him that night. Three days later — following significant public outcry and a meeting with attorneys for the victim's family — detectives issued the arrest warrant.

The arrest warrant, which should contain details about why police believe Boyd committed a criminal offense when he pulled the trigger, has not been made public. The police report didn't specify whether Buckley was armed or how exactly he was behaving toward customers. 

Attorneys for Buckley's family claim the shooting constitutes a hate crime.

Buckley was Black and Boyd is White. The attorneys questioned whether police would have handled the case differently if a young Black man shot an older White man in similar circumstances. The Trader Joe's is near several other upscale retail stores and restaurants.

Attorneys also questioned whether BRPD issued the warrant in response to political pressure.

After the police department put up its Facebook post, several questioned by officers released him — giving him a head start to flee authorities, as one commenter suggested — only to come back a few days later seeking his whereabouts. 

Baton Rouge police spokesman Sgt. L'Jean McKneely Jr. explained that detectives didn't have enough evidence the night of the shooting to make a valid arrest. He said detectives needed more time to interview witnesses, review video footage and collect other evidence while assessing what Boyd told officers Saturday night.

Email Lea Skene at lskene@theadvocate.com.