BATON ROUGE — The attorney for a woman who allegedly shot and killed her former girlfriend, an 18-year-old woman last week, is speaking out, saying the shooting was not intentional.
According to the arrest warrant, 18-year-old Kassidy Jackson was with her girlfriend at her home on Columbus Dunn Drive on the afternoon of Jan. 8, when someone knocked at a door. Jackson answered the door and three people allegedly forced their way inside.
One of those people was Jackson’s ex-girlfriend, Paulasia Banks, 19, who allegedly began fighting with Jackson’s current girlfriend in the kitchen of the home, per the warrant.
Banks’ attorney Sandra Page said that by legal definition, Banks was not trespassing in the home when she entered on Thursday.
“Ms. Banks had been at the residence as an invited guest and had left the day before,” Page said in a release.
The current girlfriend told officers she was able to remove herself from the fight with Banks and went to check on a young child elsewhere in the home. That’s when she said she heard a gunshot from the kitchen area and came running back. She saw Jackson on the floor with a gunshot wound.
Jackson was transported to Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in critical condition, and died of her injuries at the hospital, according to officials.
In video surveillance outside the home, BRPD detectives noticed a vehicle parked right outside just before the time of the shooting and leaving the scene soon after the shooting. According to officials, the car belongs to the suspect, Banks.
Banks and her attorney contacted BRPD detectives and submitted to an interview. She told detectives that she and Jackson had been dating for several months. Around Noon on Thursday, she said she couldn’t get ahold of Jackson by phone and noticed she’d been blocked on the app TikTok.
Banks told officials she met up with an unknown man in her neighborhood and “borrowed a firearm” to go “check on Jackson” at her home, per the warrant. When the door of Jackson’s home opened, Banks said she saw the other girlfriend and began physically fighting with her.
After the current girlfriend left the kitchen, Banks allegedly told detectives that she picked up the gun that fell out of her pants and onto the kitchen floor during the fight. Jackson then allegedly began pushing Banks out the door. Once she was pushed outside and the door had slammed shut, Banks said she “shot the gun into the kitchen, striking Jackson behind the door,” per the warrant. Jackson was shot in the chest.
“Based on evidence available to the defense at this time, we believe the evidence will show this was an accidental shooting, and witness statements will support that,” Page noted in a release.
Baton Rouge Police Chief T.J. Morse spoke with UWK on Jan. 12 and said at this time, the investigation is still ongoing, but scene evidence and witness statements do not back up the shooting being accidental in nature.
Banks and the two people with her allegedly left after the shooting. According to officials, neither Banks nor the men with her attempted to call for help or give aid to Jackson.
Banks was arrested on charges of first-degree murder, and according to the warrant, had been “actively engaged in aggravated burglary.”
On Jan. 12, Banks’ attorney also disputed the warrant’s claim that Banks was engaged in aggravated burglary because the law requires “”unauthorized entering” and intent to commit a felony.”
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