Patricia Sheppard was in the back seat of a gray sedan at a Chevron gas station on Highway 190 in Hammond, Louisiana at 1:15 in the morning.

She had just gotten off work and needed a ride home.
https://www.facebook.com/AkronBeaconJournal/videos/killed-an-innocent-woman-in-a-car-because-they-thought-it-was-somebody-else-a-gr/26440712428940215/
Two masked men got out of a white sedan with AR-style pistols and opened fire on the car she was sitting in. The suspects fired between 70 and 80 shots.  Patricia was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene.

She was the wrong person.

Hammond Police Chief Edwin Bergeron said the intended target had been in that car earlier in the night but had gotten out and left with someone else before the gunmen arrived.  The suspects had been stalking the car for hours and did not know their target was already gone.

Patricia Sheppard, 50, was sitting in the seat where someone else used to be.

Her sister Annette Smith said the family is devastated. “It doesn’t feel real. I just don’t understand. I just feel like those guys had to be possessed with something.”  Annette described her sister as a devout Christian who loved the Bible.

Chief Bergeron was direct at the press conference. “We will not rest until the scumbags like this go to jail for them to roll up and kill an innocent woman in a car because they thought it was somebody else.” 

The suspects were driving a stolen white 2008 Honda Civic with Mississippi plates. Investigators say they have promising leads and believe the suspects are not from Hammond.

If you have information, contact the Hammond Police Department at 985-277-5755 or Crimestoppers of Tangipahoa anonymously.

Please say Patricia’s name in the comments. And keep Annette and the entire Sheppard family in your prayers.