Louisiana governor apologizes for 1972 deaths of 2 students

BATON ROUGE

Fifty years after two students were shot and killed by a law enforcement officer during a protest at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s governor has signed a formal apology for their unjust killings. The fatal shooting of Leonard Brown and Denver Smith occurred Nov. 16, 1972, after weeks of demonstrations by students protesting poor funding, inadequate services and the disparity of educational opportunities in the state. As a result, then-Gov. Edwin Edwards sent police officers to break up the protests, The Advocate reported. At that time Brown and Smith, both 20, were fatally shot by a still-unidentified officer. No one was ever prosecuted for the killings.