KENNER, LA. – At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 11, Kenner Police Detective Nick Engler and Captain Michael Cunningham arrested Tahj Matthews, 23, Kenner for the First-Degree Murder of Lawrence Herr. At 1:00 p.m., the two officers arrested and Maurice Holmes, 25, Kenner on the same charges.

Lawrence Herr, 66, was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting while he was installing a mailbox at 29 Georgetown Drive in Kenner. Within three hours of the shooting, Kenner Police had identified the vehicle and its owner. Said Chief of Police Keith Conley, “We confidently determined the car used in the crime through technology and good old-fashioned police work. We tracked down the suspects on West Esplanade just hours after the shooting. We impounded the vehicle, detained the suspects for questioning and surveilled them until we had enough evidence to arrest.”

Added Chief Conley, “This was a textbook crime apprehension. I am proud of the work of our detectives and police who pieced together the evidence and followed its trail to take dangerous criminals off our streets.” The Kenner PD used their Flock Safety’s vehicle recognition camera systems to track a vehicle that drove past Herr on Georgetown Drive before making a U-turn at the stop sign of Georgetown and Northwestern Drive. The vehicle was then seen passing Herr a second time making another U-turn at the intersection of Georgetown and Tulane Drive. The video tracking shows that the suspects drove toward Herr a third time, paused in the street for a few seconds before passing and shooting Herr.

Detectives secured a confession from one of the suspects arrested, and that suspect also implicated the other suspect who was arrested for the shooting. Addressing the agency’s 100% solve rate on homicides, Conley stated, “Let this serve as a message to anyone who considers terrorizing this city or its people that the Kenner PD will be relentless until we bring a criminal to justice. This was a heinous drive-by assassination of a kind, caring man who was helping other. We were determined to end the rage of these criminals before they could target anyone else.”

Should anyone have any additional information to offer, they are asked to call the Kenner Police Department at 504-712-2222 or call Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111. Crime tips can also be submitted to the Kenner Police Department website: https://www.kennerpd.com/.