Shreveport city marshal candidate: Donald Gaut

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) - KSLA’s Jasmine Franklin met with a candidate running for Shreveport city marshal to give residents a better perspective on who will be keeping the city safe.

Each day leading up to the election, one of the candidates will be highlighted (in no particular order). On Wednesday, March 22, KSLA spoke with Donald Gaut.

Gaut has lived in Shreveport for nearly 50 years. Tragically, Gaut lost his son Roderick to gun violence.

Gaut said he was inspired to run for this position because he wants to make a change in the community and lower gun violence rates in Shreveport.

“To the public, I am positioned and poised to do this, to be that transformative leader that our town requires now of the marshal’s office,” he said.

Not only is Gaut a U.S. Army veteran, but for 25 years, he served as an officer for the Shreveport Police Department (SPD) as well.

“That experience and tenure at the Shreveport Police Department prepared me for this moment, now in this season,” Gaut said.

“I was assigned to three specialized units to interdict with crime prevention and criminal apprehension.”

Gaut said his son was killed in Shreveport.

“In 2019, my son Coach Roderick Gaut fell victim to a murder here in the city. And I think that in the marshal’s office with my experience, law enforcement experience and my military experience, I think I’m poised and position to be that effective leader, a transformative leader,” Gaut explained.

Gaut said he believes many people don’t know what the city marshal job entails, and if elected, he plans to change that.

“If you choose to elect me as your next Shreveport city marshal, I make this promise to you that in the first 60 days I’m in office, I will submit a briefing summary to the citizens of Shreveport and before the City Council to help the citizens of Shreveport to understand the jobs and duties of a city marshal.”

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