SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – A suspect arrested for fatally shooting a man and wounding five others downtown early Saturday morning had been previously arrested on a weapons charge, leading many to question the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office’s prosecutorial processes.

Devin Porter Jr., the 19-year-old arrested shortly after the shooting on Texas Avenue, was previously arrested on March 29, 2022, for illegally possessing a stolen firearm.

A $40,000 bond was posted two days later, and Porter was released.

According to the Caddo DA’s office, the gun was reported stolen in a November 2020 vehicle burglary. However, there was no evidence tying Porter to the theft, and he was charged with a misdemeanor.

“There wasn’t any evidence, that we could prove. That in other words, he stole the gun number one. When police picked him up, according to a police report the gun was in the car. We have no fingerprints, no evidence. In other words, we could not tie him to that gun,” Public Information Officer for the Caddo District Attorney’s Office Ivy Woodard said.

The District Attorney’s Office did request additional evidence from the Shreveport Police Department and said they did not receive any response. SPD released a statement supporting the discretion of the prosecutor’s office.

“It is important to remember that there is a higher standard of evidence needed to secure a criminal conviction, than there is to support a probable cause arrest made by police. As police officers, our job is to make an arrest when the crime is committed. The determination of prosecution of that case rests solely in the hands of the District Attorney’s Office.”

The Caddo District Attorney’s Office said they moved forward with prosecuting the case to keep the stolen firearm off the street.

The penalty for illegally possessing a stolen firearm RS 14:69.1 is between one and five years in prison for a first offense and between two and ten years for a second offense. Porter was a first-time offender at the time of his arrest in 2022.