District Attorney Collin Sims announces that on Wednesday (February 11, 2026), a Washington Parish jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict against 18-year-old Keldric Harry of Bogalusa, Louisiana for the January 2024 shooting that claimed the life of a 14-year-old and injured two others.
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Following a trial held before the Honorable Judge John A. Keller, Harry was found guilty on one count of Second Degree Murder and two counts of Attempted Second Degree Murder.
The conviction stems from an incident on January 11, 2024, in the parking lot of Bogalusa High School during a basketball game. Evidence presented at trial showed that the victim, identified as 14-year-old D.J., and two friends were fired upon after entering an unlocked vehicle. The prosecution detailed how Harry, alongside co-defendant Hakheim Young, used an automatic weapon to unleash a “death sentence” on a child for a minor property crime.
District Attorney Collin Sims praised the verdict as a necessary step for community safety. “This verdict sends a clear and resolute message that senseless acts of violence will not be tolerated in our district,” Sims stated. “Our office remains committed to holding those who devalue human life accountable. While we cannot restore what this family has lost, we can ensure that this individual faces the full weight of the law.”
During closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Gary Tromblay emphasized the calculated nature of the violence. “This wasn’t trick-or-treating…this was murder and attempted murder,” Tromblay told the jury. “The victim made the wrong choice at the wrong time – he broke into the wrong car. Did he deserve a death sentence? Did he deserve to get zippered with a machine gun? He bled out in the back seat of that car. That’s just cold-blooded, calculated killing.”
A pivotal piece of evidence in the state’s case was a voice recording of the defendant captured approximately 12 hours after the murder. Despite defense efforts to label the audio as AI-generated, Assistant District Attorney Jay Adair successfully argued for its authenticity.
“The defense trying to gaslight you into an alternate reality just tells me how damning that piece of evidence is,” Adair told the jury. “Logical consistency is important. It’s authentic…down to the bursts of an automatic,” he declared, referring to the sounds the defendant made in the recording while describing the gunfire.
Adair continued by placing the weight of the decision on the jury’s sense of duty: “You get to decide if based on reason and common sense that aligns with everything else you heard. I’m not going to feel joy or delight – regardless of what you decide – at most, I will feel that justice has been served for this family—that they cannot ever get their 14-year-old son back – who got a death sentence for opening an unlocked door of a car at a game.”
The investigation, led by the Bogalusa Police Department, utilized camera footage and witness statements to unravel a web of untruths regarding the getaway vehicle. Evidence confirmed that Harry remained in the parking lot specifically because he was banned from school campus, eventually using a friend’s vehicle to flee the scene after the homicide.
The Office of the District Attorney extends its gratitude to the jurors for their service and to the investigators who ensured a thorough presentation of the facts.
Sentencing for Keldric Harry will take place on April 20, 2026, before Judge Keller.
The co-defendant in this matter, Hakheim Young, is currently pending trial. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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