Relatives of the Baton Rouge man shot and killed in his apartment Monday afternoon said they're hoping for justice as the victim's four children — and one baby on the way — will now grow up without a father.

Baton Rouge police identified the man as Billy Harrington, 44. He was found shot to death inside his apartment at 2150 N. Sherwood Forest Drive around 2:15 p.m. Monday.

Police spokesman Sgt. L'Jean McKneely Jr. said Tuesday that investigators are following "strong leads" but are unable at this point to release additional details about the case, including whether a suspect has been identified. He said some people have come forward with information.


Neighbors reported hearing three or four shots Monday afternoon as police secured the crime scene and began their investigation. Residents of the apartment complex said the area is generally safe, not a place you'd expect to hear gunshots, especially in the middle of the day.

Harrington's sister Shannon Etienne said he had recently moved into his apartment, which he was sharing with two roommates. She reacted with disbelief to the news that her brother — who lived around the corner from her family and would stop by her home almost every day — had died.

"Can somebody bring him back? … I just want my brother back, y'all," she said on the scene less than an hour after the shooting, often breaking into sobs and brushing tears off her cheeks as she described what happened. "Lord, please help me. That's his truck right there. It's all a dream, right?"

Etienne said she had just spoken to her brother on the phone minutes before the shooting because she planned to help him put up Christmas decorations later that afternoon.

"He had already got a little tree and I was gonna go decorate the door," she said, sobbing. "How did this happen?"

Harrington left behind four children and another baby on the way, his sister said. He moved to Baton Rouge from their hometown in Mississippi several years earlier and found work at chemical plants in the area.

Relatives said they're praying that authorities will catch Harrington's killer.

Baton Rouge police ask that anyone with information on the shooting to contact the Violent Crimes Unit at (225) 389-4869 or Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-7867.

Harrington's death marked the second Baton Rouge homicide in two days. Another man, Jordan Spears, 27, was found dead inside his home in the city's Zion City neighborhood around 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

Both homicides follow a spike in deadly violence that started the beginning of November and has caused concern among local leaders, who were hoping the summer's relative peace would continue throughout the second half of 2018.