Family of 15-year-old killed in Ville Platte speaks

Ville Platte, la. (KLFY) - A Ville Platte mother is in pain and hoping for answers after her 15-year-old son was shot and killed in the early hours of the morning.

A family friend tells News 10, "My nephew was called out of his home pretty much to his death." The family's neighbor adds, "The poor little guy didn't have any future to him yet."

Just after midnight Ville Platte police were called to N. Morein St. where they would find the body of 15-year-old Maquan Sam who had been shot in the head. Police arrested the owner of the home Chris Marquees shortly after.

Sam's family tells News 10 Marquees was a friend who always invited Maquan to play basketball, but following the shooting they would discover Marquees would have an altercation with their neighbor just hours before Sam's death.

Sam's Neighbor says, " I was going to Tobacco Tavern on my bike, and he hollered at me, "I need to talk to you." When he got out of his truck, he picked up his hands like that. He had a pistol. 38 right there with an open face shirt. And he says, I'll shoot you."

After confronting Marquees and going tell the store manager to call the police, Marquees would steal the man's bike and throw it in his driveway.

The result of the call to police was a citation to Marquees.

Having no knowledge of the prior events, Sam's family says he was invited to Marquees' house where he would later be shot.

The news sent shockwaves through Sam's family who are now begging for justice, a stop to the gun violence, and a conviction for Marquees.

In a statement from the family's friend, she says, "On behalf of his grandmother and his mother we just ask, and they would just put these guns away. This is this is not good for our community. We never had a community like this. And it's just starting to get worse. We're asking the community to come together until if you know something, call it in because we have to stand together if we're going to stop situations like this from happening."

Sam's Neighbor adds his feeling about the arrest by saying, "This person needs to be sentenced. That is first degree murder proven in court. To shoot him in the back. A 15-year-old in back of the head. God help his soul because where he's going, I doubt it, I doubt it If the lord is good to see he gets away with this."

Ville Platte Police tell News 10 the suspect, Chris Marquees, is in custody on charges of negligent homicide.