Hammond Police: Suspect vehicle from shooting identified | Police are requesting the public’s help in locating

HAMMOND — Hammond Police investigators have identified a suspect vehicle from the fatal shooting early Thursday morning at a Chevron gas station. The vehicle, which has a Mississippi license plate, was stolen in Pike County just two days before the shooting, police say.

A 50-year-old woman catching a ride home with a friend after getting off of work died when two gunmen assumed she was someone else and fired upwards of 70-80 shots into the car where she was sitting, Hammond Police said in a news conference on Thursday. The entire incident was caught on a surveillance camera at a gas station in Hammond.

It was around 1 a.m. on June 4 when Hammond officers responded to a homicide in the parking lot of the Chevron at 3123 Highway 190 West. The woman killed in the shooting has now been identified as 50-year-old Patricia Sheppard.

“We know that the suspects stalked out a certain vehicle. This was not a random event,” Hammond Police Chief Edwin Bergeron Jr. said. “This was not just a random person that they drove upon and shot. We know that the suspects sat at Sanderson Farms. They watched the vehicle. They believed that there was another individual that we believe to be the actual target in the car. At some point, that person was in the vehicle and then exited the vehicle to ride with someone else.”

From Sanderson Farms, the suspects are believed to have followed the car on Hwy. 190 going west until they pulled into the gas station.

Security camera footage shows two cars parked at two different gas pumps, a gray vehicle and a white car. When the driver of the gray vehicle went inside, the white car pulled up to a closer pump, at which time two people exited the white car (the front and back passengers) and opened fire into the backseat of the gray vehicle, officers said.

“Between 70 to 80 shots were shot into this car. The lady in the car, Ms. Patricia, who has lost her life, was an absolute innocent victim in this. She was not involved in it,” said Bergeron. He added the victim and the driver had just gotten off work from a local business and officer believe they were followed to the gas station.

The two suspects were seen wearing dark clothing and were shooting with “AR-style pistols,” and continued shooting even as the car drove off.

Bergeron said the car the suspects used was stolen, involved in a carjacking in McComb, Mississippi on June 2. On Friday, officials released more information about the vehicle.

The suspect vehicle is a white 2008 4-door Honda Civic with Mississippi License Plate PJY050. During the fatal shooting event, one of the suspects shot through the front passenger window of the vehicle and, as a result, the vehicle no longer has a front passenger window, according to Hammond Police.

“We will not rest until the scumbags like this go to jail. For them to roll up and kill an innocent woman in a car because they thought it was somebody else, we do believe there’s some motives behind it, but we’re not going to discuss that at this time. I can call them dirt bags, scumbags, and all kind of other different things and names, but let’s be honest, these are the people that are affecting our community. These are the trash bags that are destroying communities across our country every single day,” the chief said.

Hammond officers are requesting anyone with any information on the shooting or who sees the suspect vehicle to contact Detective Dustin Williams with the Hammond Police Department Criminal Investigations Division at 985-277-5755 or [email protected]. You can also immediately call 911, but do not approach the vehicle.

The shooting suspects are considered armed and dangerous, officials say.

Those with information can also message Hammond Police Department’s Facebook page, or call Crime Stoppers of Tangipahoa’s anonymous tip line at 1-800-554-5245.