Police Brutality / Individual record
Desmond Willis
Desmond Willis, 25, was shot and killed by Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies during a traffic-stop encounter in Harvey, Louisiana on April 6, 2015.
- Record ID
- PB-148
- Incident date
- April 6, 2015
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Harvey, LA
- Agency
- Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 25
What happened
Deputies stopped a black pickup on Manhattan Boulevard in Harvey. Authorities said they smelled marijuana and asked driver Desmond Willis to shut off the engine; he instead drove away, leading to a pursuit and a fatal confrontation. Sheriff's officials later claimed that guns, ammunition and drugs were found in the vehicle and characterized the shooting as a gunfight. Sheriff Newell Normand publicly played social-media material he attributed to Willis while defending the operation. Those assertions and the public treatment of Willis's past behavior must be separated from independently proven details of the moments in which deputies fired. Willis was 25. Contemporary reports raise questions about whether a traffic stop and suspected drug violations had to become a fatal police encounter and whether investigative evidence was presented in a fair, complete manner.
Investigation & findings
Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office reported an investigation and publicly defended the shooting. This review did not establish an independent later charging or civil result.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 318
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- gun
- Flee status (source)
- foot
- Agency IDs (source)
- 88
Last reviewed: October 25, 2026
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset
- Fatal Force methodology and data limitationsThe Washington Post · Methodology