Drive-By Shooting in West Monroe Leads to Arrests

All subjects are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

WEST MONROE, La. – On November 1, 2023, the West Monroe Police Department responded to a drive-by shooting incident on Ludwig Avenue. During the incident, the victim and their vehicle were struck multiple times by gunfire, leading to a police investigation.

According to court documents, investigators identified the alleged shooters as occupants of a 2018 Dodge Charger. Detectives attempted to contact the owner of the Charger, Ja’niaya Jordan, on December 4, 2023, at a residence in Monroe, La. Jordan confirmed that she was driving the car on the night of the shooting.

Jordan was taken to the West Monroe Police Department for questioning, where she informed officers that she did not know two of the male subjects who were also in the vehicle during the shooting. She explained that after driving to West Monroe, she went to a relative’s home, only to find out that the relative no longer lived there. As she was leaving the residence, the male subjects allegedly began shooting at the home.

Jordan then drove to a gas station in Monroe, where the three male subjects engaged in a shooting with another group of people. The Monroe Police Department was called to the scene on Martin Luther King Junior Drive and found the victim, who had been shot while sitting in the passenger seat of a moving vehicle. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital and fortunately sustained non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the vehicle had rushed the victim to the hospital.

Video footage from the gas station revealed that a white Toyota Camry, with the victim as a passenger, came under gunfire as it passed by the store. The shots were fired by two suspects who had exited a blue Dodge Charger parked at the gas station, as per court documents.

Further investigation indicated that the suspects in the Dodge Charger and the Camry were in opposition to one another. Three male subjects were observed exchanging gunfire with the victim and the Camry’s driver.

Following the gathered evidence, an arrest warrant was issued for Ja’niaya Jordan on December 14, 2023, leading to her subsequent arrest. During further questioning, Jordan revealed that her boyfriend had contacted her and claimed involvement in a shooting in Monroe. He believed that the victim had attempted to kill him and asked Jordan to pick him up.

When Jordan arrived to pick up her boyfriend, he was accompanied by an unknown male subject and Montrese J. Plater. Mistaking a relative’s home in West Monroe for the victim’s residence, Jordan’s boyfriend allegedly ordered the three male subjects to open fire on the residence.

On January 2, 2024, Montrese J. Plater was arrested and charged with three counts of Attempted Second-Degree Murder, Criminal Conspiracy, Simple Criminal Damage to Property, and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Dangerous Substance. Plater’s bond was set at $246,000.