New Orleans police booked Kris Maxwell, Giann Nelson and Samil Smith on second-degree murder warrants in the killing of Corey Williams.

Four months after a Sand Street shooting, NOPD says it has three named defendants and a second-degree murder charge that carries a mandatory life sentence if a jury convicts. A warrant and a booking are still accusations. Motive has not been made public, and the department says the investigation remains open.

New Orleans police on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, announced the arrests of Kris Maxwell, 22, Giann Nelson, 23, and Samil Smith, 20, on warrants charging each with one count of second-degree murder in the June 6 killing of Corey Williams, 21, the NOPD said in an official release and as reported by WWL-TV and NOLA.com. Each was booked into the Orleans Justice Center. NOLA.com reported they were set to appear in Orleans Magistrate Court that afternoon for bond settings.

Shortly before 6:05 p.m. on June 6, Seventh District officers responded to multiple calls of a shooting in the 7800 block of Sand Street in Little Woods, the NOPD said. Officers found an adult male with at least one gunshot wound. New Orleans EMS pronounced him dead at the scene. Detectives later learned two additional victims from the same incident had arrived separately at local hospitals in private vehicles with gunshot wounds. On June 9, the Orleans Parish Coroner's Office identified the dead man as Williams and listed the preliminary cause of death as gunshot-related injuries, the NOPD said.

The department said Homicide Section detectives developed and identified Maxwell, Nelson and Smith as suspects and filed arrest warrants for second-degree murder. On Friday, members of the Violent Offender Warrant Squad and the U.S. Marshals Service served the warrants. Maxwell was arrested in the 4900 block of Stephen Girard Avenue, Nelson in the 5100 block of Metropolitan Street and Smith in the 7700 block of Dorsett Street, the NOPD said. WWL-TV reported the investigation is ongoing and asked anyone with information to call homicide detectives at 504-658-6050.

Under Louisiana law, a second-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment at hard labor without parole, probation or a suspended sentence, Hoodline noted in summarizing the statute. That is the exposure if a jury convicts. It is not a finding that Maxwell, Nelson or Smith killed Williams. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.