Local man killed one week from proposing to his finance’
Justin Scott was an “old school boy” who was an open book to family and friends, which makes it all the harder to fathom the baffling circumstances surrounding his murder.
On Saturday (Aug. 26), Scott was visiting a friend, 26-year-old Laurence McKee, in the 7th Ward in New Orleans, just as he had for years without incident. By around 3 a.m. that morning, Michelle Scott of Luling, his sister and a deputy with the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, said fellow deputies told her to meet them at her parents’ Luling home.
This is when Michelle got the news that sent her collapsing to the floor.
At about 12:48 a.m. that same day, the New Orleans Police Department responded to a call in the 1700 block of North Broad Street. They found Scott dead from multiple gunshot wounds on the front porch of the residence.
“Instead of getting ready for a wedding, we’re getting ready for a funeral,” said a stunned Michelle. “We’re all just numb right now. As a police officer, I see things on the street constantly, but when it hits home like this it flips your head around.”
How and why Justin was shot is under investigation, but the shock deepened when the family learned that McKee, the person they had known as Justin’s friend for at least 10 years and as a member of Justin’s band, Savius, was arrested at the scene for the shooting. He has been charged with second-degree murder and is being held at Orleans Justice Center.
“We’re just waiting in the dark,” Michelle said.
All the family knows at this point is Scott, who was passionate about music, had visited McKee to rehearse a rap song they’d written in anticipation of recording it in a professional studio the next day in Baton Rouge. They also knew he had planned to renew his fishing license that day so he could go fishing with his father in the Bonnet Carre’ Spillway.
“He was really good with rap songs,” Michelle added. “Everything he did he recorded and made it official.”
When Justin left for New Orleans, she also recalled giving him their customary sendoff: “Bye Bye, Bubba. See ya later.”
These words ended up being their last to him, said a weeping Michelle.
Coping with the realization of his loss has been unbearable for his family and even more gut wrenching that it came at a time when everything was coming together for Justin.
“This week coming up he was planning a big engagement this week,” said Robert, Justin’s distraught father. “He planned to propose this week. He was going to take her father out and ask permission to marry his daughter. After that, he was going to propose to his girlfriend. My family is old fashioned when it comes to things like that.”
Justin’s fiancé is Courtney Bonvillain, also of Luling, who Robert said is inconsolable.
“They were just made for each other,” he said of a couple planning to buy a house and raise children together. “We’re old school so it was all going to be done right, including bending one knee to propose. My son was raised in a good family … a loving family.”
Justin was following his grandfather and father by working on the river. He had just gotten his boat captain’s license on Aug. 1, which was also his 25th birthday, Robert said. He was going to be named captain of the Mary Moran tugboat.
“My dad worked out there all my life and I worked there all my life,” Robert said. “We had three generations working at Moran Towing out of New Orleans. My son followed in my footsteps.”
His father is struggling with the loss of his only son and beloved family member.
“This just crushed us. My son was a good kid,” he said, calling Justin his carbon copy. “He has never once been in trouble with the law. Justin was the peacemaker. Justin loved everybody. He wanted everybody to be happy. He was a momma’s boy. His momma was everything.”
It’s also why McKee’s arrest is so unreal to the family.
“He’d been there plenty of times before. They were friends,” Robert said. “My son was an amazing man. He didn’t deserve what happened to him.”
Robert said they had no prior indication that McKee could be a problem let alone his son’s accused killer. Also, he said, they were an accepting family, adding, “If you were a friend of my son, you were a friend of my family.”
And, for Michelle, her brother’s death seems so ironic considering how often she’d been told to be safe in her job.“Everyone is worried about me then my brother is taken,” she said. “I chose the dangerous job, but he knew I was in a good parish. He knew I was trained well so he wasn’t worried.”
Also, Michelle and her family have received the support of two extended families.
“The Sheriff’s Office, the Brothers in Blue, have been unbelievable with us and stayed at the house for hours,” she said. “Then there was a rotation of officers nonstop at the house giving condolences.”
Sheriff Greg Champagne also called and expressed condolences to the family.
“It’s phenomenal,” she said. “I want them to all know how much we appreciate them.”
Justin’s “tugboat family” also came through for them at Moran and other companies that have flown flags at half-mast.
“Everybody loved him,” said his sister. Justin’s father lamented, “He was too good for this world.”
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