Boy, 15, killed when caught in shooting

• By SONIA SMITH
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Jun 15, 2009

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A 15-year-old boy who unwittingly found himself in the middle of an ongoing feud was killed late Saturday near Glen Oaks and two men were arrested, authorities said Sunday.

De’qon Westley was standing with a group on a porch in the 5000 block of Denova Drive at 11:15 p.m. when Deasonte Lamar Pennington rode by in a blue Chevrolet Monte Carlo and allegedly began shooting at the group, said Casey Rayborn Hicks, a spokeswoman with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Those bullets did not hit anyone and Westley and some others not involved in the feud ran, cutting through the backyard and hopping a fence of a house on Rio Drive, Hicks said.

Pennington then had Marnia Marie Parks, who was allegedly driving the car, drop him off around the block, and he chased Westley and the others, Hicks said. Pennington started shooting again, Hicks said, and Westley was hit.

Deputies arrived at the scene and found Westley’s body behind a house on Rio Drive, Hicks said.

Minutes later deputies spotted a blue Monte Carlo on Greenwell Street and arrested Parks, Hicks said. Detectives found Pennington near Rio Drive and arrested him,  she said.

Westley’s family on Sunday recalled how he was trying to improve his life.

Westley, who lived on Whitney Drive, was home for the weekend from a boot camp style program he attended in Pineville, his mother Lakeisha Dawson said.

“I heard the gunshots,” said Merrill Dawson, Westley’s stepfather.

Due to truancy issues, Westley was placed on probation 14 months ago, Lakeisha Dawson said, and moved into a Harmony Center group home for boys. Three months ago, Dawson said, her son was moved to Pineville.

Merrill Dawson said he noticed his stepson had matured since beginning the Pineville program.

His wife said her son loved sports and hoped to be a professional baseball player some day. If that career did not work out, he wanted to be a counselor, his stepfather said.

Westley had most recently attended Capitol Middle School, his mother said.