70 Sh0ts F-ired, Innocent Woman Ki-ll-ed: Family Desperate for Answers Two Months Later
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Nearly two months after a deadly gas station shooting on Highway 190, the family of 50-year-old Patricia Sheppard is still waiting for answers — and asking the public for help.
Hammond police say gunmen shot and killed Sheppard June 4. Police say she was on her way home from work when gunmen pulled up to a pump and opened fire approximately 70 times. Officers say Sheppard was not the intended target.
Sheppard’s sister, Annette Smith, said the weeks since the shooting have been difficult for the entire family.
“It’s like every night I wake up around the same time with the same thoughts,” she said. “I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe that that happened to her.”
Smith said Sheppard’s children are also struggling.
“(Her daughter) was crying a lot, and she just can’t believe it, and the fact that they haven’t caught anybody — that’s a big issue with her and her son,” Smith said.
Hammond police released a photo of a suspect vehicle the week of the homicide and named two persons of interest they want to question: Jarvis and Reginald Steptoe. Police have not announced any arrests.
Smith said updates from investigators have been limited.
“The detective can’t tell me very much,” she said. “When we do talk, he has to limit what he says, so, he just keeps telling me he’s working on it.”
Smith is calling on whoever is responsible for her sister’s death to turn themselves in.
“Because the longer they’re out, the more people that could be hurt,” she said. “They didn’t get the person that they were looking for.”
She also urged the public to come forward with any information.
“We still need their help in finding the people who did this, and we have not forgotten about it,” Smith said.
Smith said she hopes an arrest will help her family begin to heal.
“That would be the best thing to find out that somebody is going to pay for what they did to my sister,” she said.
Both state police and the FBI are assisting the city of Hammond with crime mitigation. Hammond police did not respond to a request for updates on the case.
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