Caddo Coroner IDs man killed during attempted home invasion

SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - The Caddo Parish Coroner has released the identity of the man who was shot while he tried to break into a house on Friday morning.

The Caddo Parish Coroner has identified the young man shot and killed, as he allegedly tried to break into that house early Friday morning. Fingerprints were used to confirm the identity as 18-year-old J'Len Ford-Coutee of Shreveport.

Police say the attempted home invasion was very likely drug related. "No Doubt," said Shreveport Police Spokesperson Cpl. Marcus Hines.

And neighbors, like Janet Fullerton, describe this as a high crime area. "Well, I mean there's always trouble around this neighborhood, you know. But we, I say to myself," said Fullerton.

"At 3:15 then I heard a 'pow, pow, pow, pow.' And then a 'pow, pow, pow.' But I didn't come outside," recalled neighbor Janet Fullerton.

Fullerton told us that hail of gunfire at a house right across the street, in the 64-hundred block Fairfield Avenue early Friday morning, immediately woke her up.

It also led to a large police response, "After receiving reports from the occupants that men were trying to break into the residence," explained Cpl. Hines.

Officers say they discovered one of the suspected intruders, 18-year-old J'Len Ford-Coutee in the front lawn with a gunshot wound to the chest. He later died at University Health Hospital.

According to police, Ford-Coutee was wearing a mask, a dark t-shirt and holding an AR-15 rifle.

"We believe that there was an exchange of gunfire from the suspects and the persons inside the home," said Hines.

Further complicating the investigation: Police said after the shooting, and after securing a search warrant, officers discovered what they're calling a sizable amount of suspected marijuana inside the house.

Police said charges against the residents of the home are pending as the investigation continues to unfold and that no one inside the house was hurt.

An autopsy has been ordered for Ford-Coutee.

Copyright 2017 KSLA. All rights reserved.