Family of LaPlace murder victim pleads for help
Published 12:09 am Saturday, January 27, 2018
LAPLACE — Tameka Robinson, known to so many as “Red,” will be laid to rest today, but her family’s sense of closure is anything but complete.
Robinson, 39, was killed Jan. 15, found in the street, shot multiple times and left for dead at the corner of Louisiana 628 and Cardinal Street in LaPlace, police said.
Robinson’s sister, Michelle Pooler, said Robinson struggled with drugs, but never hurt anyone and maintained loving relationships with friends and her three daughters.
“I’m asking the community to please, somebody call the hotline,” Pooler said. “If the shoe was on the other foot and if it was somebody in your family, you would be crying out for help, too. Just help us find out who murdered my sister so we can get justice, so my family can get closure.
“Even though we are going to bury her (today), we still won’t have closure until her murderer has been caught. I don’t want her case to become a cold case. I have to stay on this. We need to find out who did this because I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”
There have not been any immediate answers in the days since Robinson’s killing.
On Thursday, the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office released a request for help, releasing a picture of Robinson’s three children and asking for “justice for the daughters.”
Anyone with information regarding the shooting is encouraged to call the Sheriff’s Office TIPS line at 985-359-TIPS or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.
Those who call Crimestoppers do not have to testify and may qualify for a cash reward. Tips can also be submitted at stjohnsheriff.org/submitatip.php
Pooler said her younger sister meant the world to her, as they, at different times, worked together, hung out together, had fun together and “laughed with everybody.”
“What didn’t we do together?” Pooler said. “She was an all around fun person.”
She described the killing as “senseless,” adding it was especially hard to break the tragic news to her mother.
Pooler said in the last five years, the family lost a sister to disease, a nephew to murder and a father to cancer.
“My mama just screamed so loud until she had nothing,” Pooler said. “She said ‘Lord, Jesus, how many more of my children are you going to take away from me?’”