Report: Man killed while fleeing motel over stolen drugs

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A man was shot and killed outside a motel in Louisiana’s capital city as he attempted to flee an argument over stolen drugs, according to police records.

Maurice Mallory, 27, was arrested Friday by U.S. marshals in the Wednesday killing of Sedrick Lewis at a FairBridge Inn Express in Baton Rouge, the Baton Rouge Police Department said in a statement Saturday.

Detectives wrote in affidavit that a witness told them the men were arguing over stolen narcotics. The affidavit does not provide details about who allegedly stole the drugs, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported.

Surveillance footage provided by the motel shows the men getting into a “physical struggle” in a first floor breezeway, according to the affidavit.

At some point during the altercation, Mallory dropped a handgun, which was picked up by an unknown third person. Mallory later retrieved the weapon, and Lewis turned to run. Mallory shot Lewis as he tried to flee, detectives wrote.

Lewis’s death marked the 101st killing of the year in East Baton Rouge Parish, according to records maintained by the newspaper.

Mallory was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison and accused of second-degree degree murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm and illegally using a weapon, police said. An attorney for Mallory could not immediately be reached for comment.