‘No truer definition of a hero’: Funeral held for Denham Springs officer killed in line of duty

Nearly a month after a Denham Springs police officer was shot and critically wounded while responding to a complaint at a local shopping mall, hundreds of mourners gathered at Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge to remember a man described by many who knew him as a no-nonsense but quick-witted jokester with a heart of gold. 

The crowd included friends, family and colleagues of Cpl. Shawn Kelly, as well as personnel from numerous local and state law enforcement agencies.

“He was the glue that held our family together. He was more than just a brother to me,” said Kelly’s sister, Nicole Kelly. “He was a father figure, a mentor and the person that I looked up to the most.”

The father of four was one of several officers who responded May 11 to calls about an argument between a man and a woman in the parking lot of the Spring Park Plaza shopping mall, law enforcement officials have said. 

When police arrived, 30-year-old Justin Roberts of Denham Springs reportedly began to fire at them, striking Kelly multiple times. 

Roberts fled but was later killed by Livingston Parish Sheriff’s deputies after officials say he approached them while brandishing a gun. 

Officers performed CPR on Kelly at the scene before he was taken to a hospital, where he clung to life for more than three weeks before succumbing to his injuries June 2.  

DSPD later said Kelly wasn’t supposed to be at the scene that day — despite the fact he was assigned to the department’s traffic unit, he had volunteered to take the call to help his fellow officers.

“I can think of no truer definition of a hero,” said DSPD Sgt. Keith Scoby. “He died doing what he loved: serving and protecting his community.”

Kelly began his career in 1994 with the Louisiana Department of Corrections and other state agencies before joining DSPD for the second time in 2019, where he served as a taser instructor and field training officer, according to the department. 

Scoby said that, in the early days of his career at DSPD in 2007, he was assigned to train alongside Kelly, who was always quick to crack a light-hearted joke at Scoby’s expense. 

Scoby added that it was Kelly who put in a good word for him when his family was in search of a new house in the wake of the 2016 floods. 

After losing everything, they decided to look into buying a home that happened to be right next to the Kelly family. They moved in that October. 

“When we got the house, little did I know what was in store for me the next seven years,” Scoby said. “I have a lot of trees in my yard. Shawn rides up on week two, rolls down his window with a straight face and says, ‘hey, all these leaves on the ground really bring the property value down, Scoob.'”

He continued: “He would say that and be the first one to fire up his mower.”

While Kelly was always around to lend a hand to help his colleagues, he made sure he left work on time to pick up his youngest son from daycare, Scoby said. 

“Shawn always had his family in mind,” he said. 

DSPD chief Rodney Walker addressed Kelly’s family directly: “There’s no speech or ceremony that can aid your pain,” he told them. “But know that these men and women and their family standing here with you today, they are your family, and you are their family.”

He urged Kelly’s loved ones to take comfort in his memory. 

“We’ll pick each other up, dust each other off, dry our eyes, lift our chins and persevere,” he said, “because that’s what Shawn wants us to do.”