Kenneth James Gleason, 23, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana man accused of murdering two black men and firing on a black family, had an interesting item that was found by law enforcement at his home: a copy of an Adolf Hitler speech.
The Associated Press reported that the law enforcement official who confirmed the discovery preferred to remain anonymous because the investigation is ongoing.
Gleason was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of two unarmed men, a homeless man, Bruce Cofield, and Donald Smart, a dishwasher who was walking to work. Cofield was murdered at roughly 11 p.m. on September 12; Smart at 10:30 p.m. on September 14.
Smart, who was married with three children, was gunned down with ten nine-millimeter rounds half a mile from his job at Louie’s Café, a restaurant right off LSU’s campus. Fred Simonson, general manager of the restaurant, said of Smart, “I’ve seen 26 years of folks washing dishes in a busy diner and this guy is untouchable. When you have an employee like Donald, he’s the type of person who’s going to make the person next to him better.” He added tearfully:
What Donald means to me as a person and Louie’s as an institution is not quantifiable. It’s not measurable. … Hopefully they can get some justice, some closure. … This isn’t just a murder victim, this isn’t, like, just some dude. We’re not all perfect but, damn it, if this guy wasn’t close. … I will love that man until they day I die.
Prior to the murders, Gleason allegedly shot at the house of a black family in his neighborhood three times with a nine-millimeter gun; no one was hurt.
Interim Police Chief Jonny Dunnam said, “I feel confident that this killer would have killed again.”