Family of women, 2 girls killed in Shreveport house fire suing city
Including previously unreported lawsuit from mother of the 2 girls
SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) - The family of the victims of the deadly Kemp Lane fire that happened in Shreveport in April of 2025 has filed three lawsuits against multiple government organizations.
Four people died as a result of the fire. They are:
- Eureka Garner, 56
- Mildred Carter-Rawls, 84
- Ne’Vaeh Brielle Garner, 5
- Tayona Te’Neese Robinson, 7
First Lawsuit:
The first suit, filed Feb. 27, by Shereka Garner, the mother of two girls who died in the fire, for her mother and daughters who died in the fire. Shereka’s brother, Brandon Garner, is a plaintiff in this lawsuit as well. He is the son and uncle of the fire victims. They are suing the City of Shreveport and Devin Kennedy.
The lawsuit claims “the dispatch operator failed to relay the information that four people were in the house that there was a fire. Instead, the only information relayed initially was that there was a possible fire at the house. This negligence contributed to the false assumption that nobody was in the house.”
The suit goes on to say, “Captain Devin Kennedy failed to follow standard operating procedure as established in the Fire Department Standard Operating Procedure-City of Shreveport, and was negligent in such failure, by failing to order his personnel to search for and rescue victims as a first priority when he knew or should have known of the possibility of victims. The City of Shreveport [also] failed to properly train and supervise [those] involved in the incident.”
They are seeking injuries and damages for the death of their mother and Shereka’s two girls who died in the fire, pre-death fear, fright, anxiety, anguish, smoke inhalation, burns, and other injuries as may be shown at the trial of this matter.
Second Lawsuit:
The second suit, filed March 6 by Artilious Saxton and Cleveland Saxton, is for their mom, Mildred Carter Rawls, against the Shreveport Fire Department and the city.
They are suing on the grounds of liability, negligence, and fault. It is a wrongful death claim of Mildred Carter-Rawls.
The suit says on April 6, 2025, when the deadly fire happened, Mildred Carter-Rawls, the mother of the plaintiffs, was with her young granddaughters at her home in the 2400 block of Kemp Lane when the house caught fire. The mother of the children called 911 around 6:37 a.m. to report that her kids were with their grandma inside the house and that her young daughter had called her saying the house was on fire.
The suit goes on to say the 911 operator gave this information to the Shreveport Fire Department and transferred the call to SFD dispatch.
FULL TEXT OF LAWSUIT
At around 6:38 a.m., SFD dispatch reportedly sent an alert to selected stations to respond to a “possible” house fire. The lawsuit claims SFD failed to report that multiple people were inside the house. Engines 6 and 8, with the fire department, were sent out to the scene.
According to the lawsuit, while these engines were boarding and leaving their stations, SFD put a written message into the “mobile display termination” (MTD) reporting for the first time that there were, in fact, people inside the burning home. The lawsuit claims the responding crews did not read the MTD alert and did not broadcast that people were inside.
The lawsuit says Captain Devin Kennedy was in command of Engine 6; it was the first engine to arrive at the house around 6:43 a.m. When Engine 6 got there, firefighters saw smoke and flames coming from the side of the house and started efforts to put out the fire. Engine 4 showed up slightly after Engine 6.
The lawsuit claims no search and rescue efforts were made by firefighters. SFD also made no efforts to find out if anyone was inside the house, despite there being cars parked in the home’s driveway, the suit claims. The suit also notes again that a 911 call had been made reporting there were multiple people inside the house.
After crews had mostly put out the fire, Engine 8 showed up, and someone verbally told other SFD personnel already there the MDT message about there being people inside the house, the suit states. At this point, firefighters went into the house and started to search; however, they were too late, the suit reads.
Eureka, Mildred, and Ne’Vaeh were all pronounced dead that day, while Tayona died from her injuries a few days later on April 11.
The suit says Capt. Kennedy was fired and/or retired involuntarily because of his failure to follow proper search and rescue procedures.
The family of the victims is seeking damages for funeral and burial expenses, medical expenses, pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of love and affection, loss of a chance of survival, and all other general and special damages resulting from the wrongful death of Mildred Carter-Rawls.
Devin Kennedy is not mentioned in this lawsuit.
Third Lawsuit:
The father of two young girls, Te Various Robinson, also filed a lawsuit on March 30 against former Shreveport Fire Captain Devin Kennedy, the city of Shreveport, and the Shreveport Fire Department.
Read the full story here.
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