Transcription
Good morning everybody and thank you all for coming. Media partners, um, family, uh, we appreciate you being here. Um, I'm not, I don't, I'm not gonna say much. I'm gonna go ahead and introduce Special Agent in Charge Doug Williams. He has an announcement to make. If you'll please give him your attention.
Thank you, Angie. I appreciate that. Uh, good morning and and thank you all for, uh, for being here today. My name is Doug Williams. I'm the Special Agent in Charge for the FBI here in Louisiana. The FBI has been working with the Shreveport Police Department to solve the homicide of 17-year-old Shamaya Little. And on behalf of the FBI and our partners, the Shreveport Police Department, I would like to extend my sincere and heartfelt condolences to the Little family for the loss of Shamaya. As every parent can imagine, I know that this is an incredibly difficult time for the family and friends of the Little family. So our heart is with them here today.
But today, we're here to announce a reward of up to fifty thousand dollars for information leading to the identification of the individual or individuals who were responsible for the homicide of Shamaya Little. On July 12, 2021, Shamaya was discovered deceased approximately a quarter mile northwest of Douglas Williams Park here in Shreveport. Shamaya was found deceased from a gunshot wound. Shamaya was last seen alive on July 6, 2021, near Douglas Williams Park here in Shreveport.
So today, we're here to ask for your help. We need your help. We can't do our job without you. I believe someone in this community knows what happened to Shamaya, and I'm begging you to come forward and help us bring justice for Shamaya and the Little family. So we're here today to ask that you please contact us with any information that you may have in relation to Shamaya's death. If you witnessed any part of what happened, if you have any information on who may be involved in this tragic crime, we ask that you please come forward. You can contact us at 1-800-CALL-FBI. That's 1-800-CALL-FBI or 1-800-225-5324. You can also submit a tip online at our website, tips.fbi.gov.
And lastly, I would like to thank Chief Smith and the Shreveport Police Department for their partnership, their collaboration, and their efforts in working together to find Shamaya's killer. So at this time, I'll turn it over to Chief Smith.
Again, thank you all for coming. Let me thank the FBI for all the help throughout this investigation. And all of the investigations, in addition to the details provided by federal partners, I would like to add that my investigative team have exhausted leads. Many leads were received, and they have worked diligently to follow through with every lead, every piece of information that has come through since 2021. We receive no additional leads or information. We also want to thank all the citizens who has been so wonderful in helping us to pursue those who are responsible for this tragic incident.
In addition to the FBI's generous reward, Caddo-Bossier Crime Stoppers is also offering an additional three thousand dollars for information leading to the arrest of persons responsible for this egregious crime. Once again, we are asking you to come forward. If you know something, say something. It would take us all coming together to make progress in this case. No one wants justice in a matter more than the men and women of the Shreveport Police Department. So please help us by any means possible where you can get us information that will send us in a direction that helped lead to the arrest and conviction of persons responsible for not only this egregious crime but any other crime within our city.
Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we'll take one question from each media partner. Um, and y'all may begin.
Why is the FBI getting involved in this case, sir?
The FBI has been involved in this case since the very beginning. This case came to us as a reporting of a juvenile who was kidnapped and allegedly sexually assaulted. So in those instances, we open a case immediately, and we partnered with Shreveport immediately. And our hope, uh, for for the reward today is to generate some leads. As the Chief said, we've, the leads have really dried up. And while we do have investigative activity, we're hoping that this reward today will will instigate some more, uh, some more leads for us.
It's from the FBI and the Department of Justice. Was, um, Shamaya's, uh, boyfriend a person of interest?
And has been clear. We're not going to speak about any investigative details, guys. Um, obviously, we do not want to compromise the integrity of this ongoing investigation.
Yeah, I, I really think our hope here today is that, uh, someone in this community knows what happened to Shamaya, and we hope that this will give them the ability to come forward and help us bring justice to the Little family. Not necessarily a conviction.
Yes, sir. Information leading to an arrest. Depends on.
Yes, sir. Okay.
In closing, let me say, the, the city of Shreveport, our citizens, this is our community. This is our home. We, of all people, have a responsibility to help secure and take care of our home. As was stated earlier, somebody saw something, somebody knows something. And it should not have to take bringing forth cash rewards for us to solve crime. Help us secure our community. If you see something, you know something, say something. Thank you all for coming and for all y'all's help. I'm sure that y'all will get that this out here. And thanks for the family for coming. And we're getting this press conference now.