Brandon ‘Boogie B’ Montrell, 43, a comedian known for his ‘Hood History’ series of videos on TikTok and Instagram was shot dead in New Orleans on Friday after getting caught in crossfire while shopping for his grandma.
Montrell had returned to his hometown to spend Christmas with his family, but was fatally shot while inside a vehicle in the grocery store parking lot.
He was getting groceries for his grandmother at the time of the shooting. It is believed Montrell was caught in the crossfire of two gunmen shooting at each other, and was not the intended target.
Cops have released surveillance photographs of two suspects together with a gray or silver sedan getaway car and a photo of a woman they want to question named as Dyamonique Smith.
No arrests have yet been made in the case.
Montrell is also hugely-popular on Instagram, where he has close to a quarter of a million followers, and on Facebook, where he has a further 500,000.
On Saturday, Montrell’s mother blasted the city of New Orleans saying that her son’s death was symptomatic of decades of decay.
‘My son was not just the victim of a stray bullet,’ Montrell’s mother Sherilyn Price said in a statement.
‘He’s the victim of decades of neglect that have left New Orleans’ youth with no hope for a future and with no real fear of consequences.
‘It’s past time for leaders in our city and all over to do their jobs. It matters who the president is, who the governor is, and who the mayor is.
‘Leaders create opportunities – including the opportunity to live in peace without fear of random violence.
‘When crime and violence in New Orleans became worrisome, Montrell relocated to Washington D.C. and became a comedian,’ her statement said.
In New Orleans, the homicide rate has soared 141 percent compared with 2019, while shootings are up 100 percent, carjackings up 210 percent and armed robberies up 25 percent, according to the city’s Metropolitan Crime Commission.
There have been 265 murders in the city so far this year, compared with 213 at this time last year, a 31 percent increase over the same time period.
