BATON ROUGE — Federal, state and local law enforcement gathered Monday to celebrate the results of a three-month effort to reduce violent crime.
Operation Summer Heat 2.0, which ran from June 1 to Aug. 31 2026, resulted in nearly 700 arrests across Louisiana. Agents seized more than 300 guns and more than 200 kilograms of illegal drugs, said Jonathan Tapp, the FBI special agent in charge of the New Orleans field office.
In Baton Rouge, the effort focused largely on The Bottom, a neighborhood that sits between downtown and LSU’s campus, and on Brookstown, which is bounded generally by Airline Highway, Hollywood Street, McClelland Drive and Evangeline Street.
Tapp described those neighborhoods as “historically known for drug trafficking.”
Adam Parks, the assistant special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Baton Rouge, said that in the Baton Rouge area, 95 people were arrested and 75 guns were seized, including six devices that turn semi-automatic guns into automatic guns.
He said investigators seized $270,000 in cash along with more than 1,100 pressed fentanyl pills, four pounds of raw fentanyl and 46 pounds of cocaine.
The FBI said officers also seized more than 50 pounds of marijuana and nearly ten pounds of methamphetamine.
Among the arrests highlighted during the press conference was that of Ronrico Terrell, who was booked in July with a variety of drug charges.
Terrell, 50, has been getting arrested in drug cases for 30 years. He was on federal probation when he was arrested in July. The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office said Terrell and his nephew Ronny Howard ran a drug-dealing operation.
“To the communities affected by this violence and drug trafficking, we hear you, and we remain committed to working with our partners to make your neighborhoods safer,” Parks said.
District Attoney Hillar Moore said that he and U.S. Attorney Kurt Wall “have a great working relationship,” and their offices are in communication daily to see whether state or federal laws offer the best opportunity to prosecute gun and drug cases.
Wall, who worked at the East Baton Rouge district attorney’s office for 13 years in his early career, said he’s grateful to have cooperation from state and local agencies here.
“I’m extremely thankful for the partnerships that we have with the people that are gathered up here with me for this conference today,” he said.
Wall, who took office in October 2025, said his office’s prosecution numbers are higher than they have been in 10 years.
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