A 17-year-old Lafayette student has been identified as the person killed in a mall shooting in Baton Rouge on Thursday, according to police.
Martha Odom, a senior at Ascension Episcopal School, was set to graduate in just three weeks. She was visiting the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge for her “senior skip day” when a pair of armed individuals began firing at each other in the mall’s food court.
She was caught in the crossfire and was shot in the chest. She died from her wounds, according to a coroner’s report.
“Today, our hearts are heavy. We grieve the loss of one of our seniors, Martha Odom, following yesterday’s off-campus tragedy,” the school said in a statement on Friday.
Six people were wounded in the shooting, including at least three students from Ascension, including Odom, Fox 8 reports.
The school remembered Odom as “a joyful presence whose kindness and infectious enthusiasm brought light to all who knew her.”
Five people were taken into custody following the shooting for questioning, but have since been released.
On Friday, Baton Rouge Police Chief TJ Morse said that a suspect, Markel Lee, 17, had been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, as well as other charges, in connection with the shooting. He turned himself in to the BRPD.
Morse said police are seeking a second suspect and have asked the public for assistance in locating the individual.
Louisiana officials also confirmed that a 43-year-old man wounded in the shooting is still hospitalized in critical condition.
Odom was active in her school life; she was the captain of the girls’ soccer team, an editor at her school newspaper, and, outside of class, she taught at a dance studio, according to NOLA. She was set to attend Sewanee, also called the University of the South, and planned to study English and creative writing.
The teen was showing promise as a writer; in 2025, she won first place in the Lafayette Public Library’s 2025 “Writes of Spring” contest and took second place this year.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, a native of Lafayette, posted on social media that she has a personal connection to the Odom family and called for the individuals responsible for the teen’s death to “face the full force of the law.”
“The Odom family and mine have been friends for decades,” Murrill wrote. “There are no words for the devastating loss of innocent life. I’m praying for her, her family and friends, and the entire Lafayette community during this heartbreaking time.”
It has been a grim week for Louisiana. On April 19, a man in Shreveport shot and killed eight children — 7 of whom were his own — and wounded two women, including the mother of the children. The gunman was killed by police following the shooting.
The attack was the worst mass shooting in the U.S. since January 2024.
