Murder trial begins in connection with death of former BRPD officer | Courts

He was a former Army Airborne Ranger and former Baton Rouge police officer who retired from law enforcement to start his own construction company.

Family members remember Ryan Gibbs Hord as a force in the Capital Heights community. A dedicated gardener, he built a planter at Bernard Terrace Elementary School near his home and filled it with flowers. He enlivened the neighborhood with flowerpots that he planted in small garden beds.

But when Hord, 41, foiled a car break-in near his Richland Avenue home in April 2020, his life ended abruptly after he confronted the would-be robber, authorities said.

Prosecutors described the shootout between Hord and Craig Leyland Willis just feet from his front door as testimony began Monday afternoon in Willis' murder trial. Hord was killed when a bullet struck him in the chest during the shootout, authorities said. Willis survived multiple gunshot wounds but was charged with murder.

In Willis' trial before a single judge in the 19th Judicial District Courthouse, the 33-year-old Baton Rouge man is charged with second-degree murder, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon and simple burglary in connection with Hord's killing.

District Judge Gail Horne Ray is presiding and will decide whether Willis is guilty of the crime. The East Baton Rouge Public Defender's Office, which is representing Willis, waived a jury trial and asked the judge in a July 11 motion to decide his fate.

Hord was a Baton Rouge police officer who joined the force in 2009 and served for several years, according to BRPD officials. He also served as a reserve deputy for the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office from 2004 to 2008, an EBRSO spokesman confirmed Monday.

At the beginning of the trial, the defendant's lawyers argued that Hord had hunted Willis after he left the former police officer's house and that Willis had no choice but to shoot him in self-defense.

“The evidence shows that Mr. Hord took matters into his own hands and pursued Craig Willis,” said Assistant Public Defender Ebonni Jackson in her opening statement. “There was a commotion and shots were fired.”

Hord had recently become engaged, and his fiancée, Natalie Butler, moved in with him and his then 15-year-old son. They lived in a Baton Rouge home north of Government Street in the Capital Heights section of Mid City.

Prosecutors said they plan to show the judge surveillance footage from security cameras Hord recently installed on the property.

According to the arrest warrant, the chain of events that led to the fatal shooting began shortly before midnight. Willis was seen on cameras pulling on the handle of the pickup truck parked in Hord's driveway in the 100 block of Richland Avenue. When he couldn't get into the locked truck, Willis continued south, pulling on other door handles. Three houses down, he managed to break into a neighbor's Ford Focus, where Hord confronted him.

Prosecutors said Hord jumped into his pickup truck and chased Willis to a neighbor's property, where he confronted the would-be robber. Assistant District Attorney Jamie Triggs told Judge Ray that Hord jumped out of his pickup truck and ordered Willis to get on the ground. But the two men opened fire and Hord died at the scene. A .357 revolver was found next to his body.

“For four seconds, the sound of gunfire rang through that April night,” Triggs said. “Both men were armed, both men drew their weapons, both men fired, and both men were hit. One of them owned his firearm legally, the other did not. One man died at the scene, his life forever taken from his family, his fiancée, and his friends. The other man is sitting at the defense table.”

Willis was shot multiple times and fled the scene. Prosecutors said he walked the neighborhood for nearly an hour trying to piece together his story before police arrested him a block east along Edison Street. Willis reportedly had an empty Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol on him, and investigators linked the weapon to shell casings found at the shooting scene.

Willis was already a felon at the time, prohibited from possessing a firearm. He pleaded guilty to armed robbery in December 2009 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, court records show.

Willis' attorneys argued he walked away from Hord's home and was about 100 yards from the victim's door when Hord armed himself with a handgun and headlamp and pursued Willis. Jackson, the public defender, said Willis reasonably believed he was in imminent danger when Hord confronted him and “had to save himself.”

“He was frightened and terrified when a man approached him with a gun and a lamp and feared for his life,” she told the judge. “Mr. Hord approached Craig Willis after he had already walked away.”

According to court records, Willis pleaded guilty in December 2021 to theft of a firearm, a charge stemming from a car theft less than two weeks before the shooting. Willis broke into a vehicle in the 800 block of Summer Drive and stole a Smith & Wesson handgun. It was not immediately clear if it was the same gun he used in the shooting with Hord.