BATON ROUGE - Juvenile violence in East Baton Rouge Parish has claimed 83 lives over the last six years, and police say the people committing those crimes are getting younger.

Baton Rouge police say the trend is visible in both who is pulling the trigger and who is getting hurt. Earlier this week, five teenagers between the ages of 11 and 17 were injured in a drive-by shooting and investigators believe the people responsible were also juveniles.

"The suspects are getting younger, the victims are getting younger," Lt. L'Jean McKneely with BRPD said.

"Just recently, the past couple of days, we had five juveniles who were injured by gunfire. So now we're actively pursuing that information, that investigation, and believe that those who committed the crime were juveniles. So that's juvenile-on-juvenile crime," he said.

The homicide numbers across the parish show how the problem has shifted over time. In 2022, 19 juveniles under the age of 18 were killed. That number dropped to eight in 2023 before climbing back to 13 in 2024 and nine in 2025. With only six months gone in the current year, 11 juveniles have already been killed.

Police say they are not working on this alone. McKneely said the department is partnering with school systems, nonprofit organizations, and the mayor's office to target group violence and give young people tools to handle conflict without turning to violence.

"Overall, juvenile violence here in Baton Rouge, we've seen an uptick over the recent years," McKneely said.

"Those who are committing violent crimes are getting younger and younger. They are getting access to the guns, they're getting access to a lot of those weapons, and they're out there committing those crimes. And there's a lot of youth violence, youth on youth, and we've definitely seen an uptick," McKneely said.

Advocacy groups say enforcement alone will not be enough to reverse the trend. Angelle Bradford Rosenberg, the Louisiana state legislative lead and elections lead for Moms Demand Action, said she has been closely following the violence in Baton Rouge and across the state.

"Beyond concerned, I follow it just like I follow violence across the entire state and then in New Orleans, and I'm honestly devastated," Rosenberg said.

She said the path forward requires a full investment in young people and the families around them. "Let's fully invest in all children," Rosenberg said.

"All children are everyone's children. And just make sure they have the resources and the love and the support, and their parents and their caregivers do too. Because it's a lot of support needed for a lot of different generations to make sure that it's not just about like responsible gun ownership, but also just an entire full dignified life that people can live," she said.