Shreveport Restaurant Shooter Gets a Lengthy Prison Sentence

A Shreveport man found guilty in Caddo District Court in July in connection with an armed robbery and shooting at a popular local restaurant was sentenced to just under 120 years in prison Wednesday, October 11, 2023.

District Judge Ramona Emanuel sentenced Devonta Davis, 23, to 97 years for armed robbery and 20 years for attempted manslaughter. The sentences are to run consecutive to each other.

On July 29, 2017, Davis and an accomplice waited outside the back of El Compadre Mexican restaurant to commit a robbery. When their victim exited the eatery, they approached her at gunpoint and demanded her purse.

The woman's son rushed to her defense and was shot twice in the chest, suffering life-threatening wounds. He spent months in rehabilitation and underwent several surgeries but survived.

Davis and his accomplice left the scene on bicycles and eventually abandoned them in a field along the ditch line in the neighborhood surrounding the restaurant. Officers recovered the victim’s purse, wallet and cell phone in one of the fields. Nearby, officers recovered articles of Davis' bloody clothing. The physical evidence, as well as witness testimony and a statement from the co-defendant, who pleaded guilty in a separate trial as a principal to the armed robbery, proved Davis's guilt.

Assistant District Attorneys Brittany Arvie and William “Bill” Edwards prosecuted. Davis was defended by Katherine Ferguson, Royal Alexander and Evan McMichael.