Two arrested in Hooper Road homicide

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While a man lay dying from a gunshot wound at a Hooper Road house, the shooter and another man smoked narcotics and cigarettes while they discussed what to do with the body, sheriff's investigators say. According to detectives with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, two men showed up at the house Sunday evening and started arguing with the homeowner. Eventually the homeowner went to his bedroom to retrieve his rifle and then shot one of them in the head.

Taylor Dean, 33, was later found dead on the scene, officials said. The shooting occurred in the 11000 block of Hooper Road, which is in the northeast part of the parish near Central.

Both the homeowner, Richard Leray, and Dean's companion, Blaine Robertson, were later arrested after being interviewed by detectives. Leray, 49, is accused of shooting Dean while Robertson, 33, is accused of discussing with his codefendant what to do with the body before sheriff's deputies arrived on scene, according to their arrest reports. Dean and Robertson started to argue shortly after arriving at Leray's house, "which was not unusual for them; however it did not escalate into a physical altercation," detectives wrote. Robertson told deputies that "as they began to settle their dispute, he heard a loud 'pop' and saw the victim grab his head area and fall to the floor."

Instead of calling for help, deputies said, Leray and Robertson "began to smoke narcotics and cigarettes … as the victim lay dead or dying on the floor." Robertson told detectives he eventually realized Dean was in fact dead and started discussing with Leray "how to get rid of the body." Robertson then suggested to Leray that he would go get more drugs, at which point he left and instead called 911.

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