A heated domestic argument turned fatal on the night of January 20, 2026, inside an apartment complex in St. Martinville, Louisiana, resulting in the shooting death of a local resident.
St. Martinville Police Department officers responded around 10:00 p.m. to a report of shots fired in the 100 block of Cypress Garden Road, a multi-unit apartment community in this historic small town in St. Martin Parish. Upon entering the specific apartment unit, they found 45-year-old Claude Collins suffering from three gunshot wounds sustained during the altercation.
Emergency medical personnel attempted life-saving measures at the scene in the 100 block of Cypress Garden Road, but the injuries proved too severe, and Collins was pronounced dead inside the apartment without transport to a hospital. The rapid declaration underscored the lethality of the close-range shooting that occurred amid the family dispute.
Detectives quickly identified 18-year-old Shawn Abraham, a resident of the same apartment complex and Collins’s stepson, as the individual who discharged the firearm three times, striking the victim. Abraham was arrested shortly after and booked into the St. Martin Parish Jail on a charge of second-degree murder, reflecting the intentional nature alleged in the domestic confrontation.
Further investigation revealed actions by the victim’s wife, Sheena Marie Robertson Collins, that complicated the response. Authorities charged her with failure to render aid, as she allegedly did not assist her injured husband post-shooting, and obstruction of justice for impeding the probe, leading to her arrest alongside the primary suspect.
The incident confined to the apartment in the 100 block of Cypress Garden Road posed no broader public threat, allowing the complex to remain secure while crime scene processing continued into the late hours. This residential setting in St. Martinville amplified the personal tragedy of a family conflict escalating to lethal violence within familiar walls.
St. Martinville authorities continue examining the full dynamics of the domestic altercation at the 100 block of Cypress Garden Road, St. Martinville, Louisiana, as the community absorbs the impact of this sudden loss and the arrests of a young stepson and the victim’s spouse.
