‘Senseless violence’: 21-year-old college student found shot to death in car, police say

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB/Gray News) - Police in Louisiana are continuing their investigation into the death of a Louisiana State University student.

The Baton Rouge Police Department said officers found a woman, later identified as 21-year-old Allison Rice, shot to death inside a car on the edge of downtown Baton Rouge on Friday morning.

WAFB reports at least five or six bullets were fired into Rice’s vehicle.

The LSU student was alone in the vehicle when police arrived. Authorities said they found her near railroad tracks.

Investigators said Rice was possibly waiting for a train to pass. However, a train was not present when they arrived at the scene.

According to authorities, Rice was with friends in the Mid City area of Baton Rouge before the shooting. She was a senior at LSU majoring in marketing.

The university issued the following statement after Rice’s death was announced:

“The LSU community is saddened to hear of senior Allison Rice being killed overnight. Her family and friends are in our thoughts, and we encourage anyone who may have more information about this crime to contact Baton Rouge police.”

Rice was a 2019 graduate of Dutchtown High School, where she was on the homecoming court.

Dutchtown High School Principal Matthew Monceaux said the school is “deeply saddened” to learn of Rice’s death while sending condolences to her family and friends.

Rice also worked at The Shed BBQ restaurant near the LSU campus. Luke Forstmann, the restaurant’s owner, said he recently talked to Rice about an internship she had lined up.

“She had just such an amazing, bright future. Everything was just on the up and up and she was about to graduate,” Forstmann said. “It’s just so senseless and devastating that someone as bright as her would be taken from us this early.”

Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome called the shooting “senseless violence and completely unacceptable” as Baton Rouge officers continue to work the case.

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