Anthony Morgan, a 44-year-old man from Metairie, was convicted this week for the second-degree murder of Aaron Lee, also 44, after an “ambush” shooting at an Airline Drive intersection. The incident, which occurred on April 25, 2022, unfolded when Lee was seated in his Dodge Charger; Morgan fired upon him with an assault-style semiautomatic rifle, unleashing over 47 .223-caliber bullets, as reported by the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office.
The jury, after deliberating for less than an hour, handed down a verdict that also included three counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of obstruction of justice for Morgan, the prosecution’s evidence indicated that Lee was confined within his vehicle when he was shot, a detail that significantly undermined Morgan’s self-defense claim. Assistant District Attorney Brendan Bowen painted a stark image of the attack to jurors, asserting, “That’s a guerrilla-style ambush in the middle of Airline Highway,” according to the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office.
During the trial, Morgan maintained that he acted in self-defense believing he was the target of an ambush, but the evidence presented told a different story; surveillance from nearby businesses showed Morgan at the scene, with a pathologist and a crime scene reconstruction expert confirming Lee to have been shot inside his car. As Assistant District Attorney Kristen Landrieu told jurors, “Aaron Lee should be with his family, He should be celebrating birthdays and Christmas and Thanksgiving, and he’s not, because Anthony Morgan took things into his own hands, This is a second-degree murder, There is no other option,” as mentioned by the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office…