Abbeville man wants justice after his shooter's charges are changed
VERMILION PARISH, La. (KLFY) -- In Vermilion Parish, one man is outraged that the man who shot him over two years ago is getting less serious charges.
In 2021, Kendrick Simon was out on S. Airport Rd. in Abbeville looking for his license plate which he believed fell off his vehicle. He approached the intersection at Jacqulyn St. where he says a man pulled on the side of the road and started shooting a gun at him for no reason and was hit in the abdomen.
"He started blasting at me for no reason. I never talked to this guy. I never seen him before," said Simon.
Simon and his wife Katina say they were recently notified by the 15th Judicial District Attorney's Office Troy Landry, that the shooter is not going to be charged with attempted second-degree murder and will instead be charged with felony aggravated battery.
Since they found out, Simon says he wants his voice heard not only for himself but for the other shooting victims who can't speak for themselves.
"The justice is not being granted," said Simon. "I want to speak on these people who have passed away that can't tell their story you know. The system is totally messed up man."
I spoke with the 15th Judicial District Attorney Don Landry about the case. He says throughout the process of gathering evidence, his office was not able to reach Simon for his testimony about what happened. This is something he says his office needs to help with a case.
"We need cooperation of victims in these cases," said Landry. " In this case, we tried to reach out. We could not reach them. (So, we) had to take the steps we took."