Overview

• The brothers are charged with murder in aid of racketeering, attempted murder in aid of racketeering, use of a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime, and causing death through use of a firearm.
• Prosecutors allege that on June 24, 2022, Terry and Travonte Ardoin masked up in a Black Nissan Altima and opened fire on a Chevrolet Equinox in a Houston shopping center parking lot, killing 29-year-old Shaquille Lewis and wounding another occupant.
• Investigators used surveillance footage and hospital records to tie the brothers to the ambush after Travonte Ardoin arrived at a trauma center with a gunshot wound and claimed he had been a victim of a drive-by shooting.
• Federal authorities are considering life imprisonment or the death penalty under a Justice Department directive to pursue the harshest sentences for violent gang offenses.
• The case is part of a broader Department of Justice Violent Crime Initiative that leverages racketeering statutes to dismantle organized street gangs in Houston.