And so it begins... family disputes EBRSO shooting story

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With officials releasing no new information Thursday about the details leading to and during the officer-involved fatal shooting at a North Ardenwood apartment complex, the family of the man killed is disputing the initial statements by the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff Sid Gautreaux III said Wednesday that 31-year-old Shermichael Ezeff, who was already covered in blood, approached a deputy who was serving papers at the apartment complex around 4 p.m.

“When the subject approached (the deputy) there, there was a struggle that ensued,” Gautreaux said. “A shot was fired. That subject was hit.”

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Ezeff’s relatives, including some who saw part of the encounter, on Thursday disputed there was a physical struggle between the deputy and Ezeff, who died in a hospital late Wednesday night.

Ezeff’s younger sister and roommate, Ericka Ezeff, said her brother arrived at the Renaissance Gateway apartment complex looking like he had been in a fight, with a torn shirt and spattered with blood. After an aunt flagged down the deputy, the officer and her brother encountered each other in a grassy area between one of the apartment buildings and a fence, Ericka Ezeff said.

Droplets of blood stained the sidewalk that weaves from the parking lot and through the complex.

Ericka Ezeff said she saw the deputy ask her brother his name and if he had a weapon, to which he replied ‘no.’ The deputy then told her brother to put his hands on a nearby fence, which he initially did, but then he moved, she said, adding the next thing she knew, the deputy pulled out a stun gun.

“The man pulled out his Taser first but then dropped the Taser and shot him. … All he would have had to do was taze him but he shot him instead,” Ezeff said.

She said there was never a physical confrontation between the deputy and her brother. A family friend, Darrell Rogers, also said he never saw a physical struggle between the two. Ezeff’s aunt, Oralee Rivers, was not at the apartment at the time of the encounter, but also doubts that a physical struggle happened because, she speculated, the deputy would have had Ezeff’s blood on him.

“I want to see the bloody shirt, where the struggle was, because I know there’s contact when you say a struggle,” Rivers said. “That’s what I’m concerned about. He was full covered in blood. That (deputy) would’ve had some on him. I don’t believe it.”

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Ezeff’s family said he moved in with his sister at the Renaissance Gateway apartments at 650 N. Ardenwood Drive last fall after he was released from prison. He was released on good time parole in October 2017 from a seven-year prison sentence on felon in possession of a firearm, Department of Corrections spokesman Ken Pastorick said.

Pastorick said Ezeff was also convicted of two counts of simple burglary in 2005 and later convicted of two counts of second-degree battery in 2011. Despite this history, Rivers said she believes her nephew learned from his mistakes.

Pastorick said Ezeff had been meeting with supervisors and meeting his parole requirements. Ezeff’s family said he had enrolled in a GED and welding certification program at Baton Rouge Community College.

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