Free Republic

“Kill or be killed.” That’s what a spray-painted graffiti message reads on a metal wall a stone’s throw from the 1500 block of Government Street near downtown Baton Rouge. It’s a double testament — both to the scandalously dangerous character of that particular speck of earth along one of the city’s main thoroughfares and to the scandalously dangerous deficiency of the public schools in East Baton Rouge Parish. The graffiti, which has been on that metal wall for close to 15 years without anyone bothering to paint over it, turned somewhat prophetic in the early-morning hours of Sept. 16. Because...

The Louisiana State University senior who was fatally shot while sitting in her car Friday morning appears to be the victim of a random attack, police said Tuesday. Investigators have found no evidence indicating that 21-year-old Allison Rice was targeted by her killer, a Baton Rouge police spokesperson told WBRZ on Tuesday. The development came as authorities also revealed federal agents from the FBI, ATF and DEA have offered assistance in the case, District Attorney Hillar Moore told the outlet. Moore called the murder an “isolated and random act,” and said detectives have pursued every single tip and lead they...