A Tallulah man was beaten and shot at near his home Sunday night in what a Louisiana state trooper is calling a possible attempt at “street justice” related to the slayings of two young women.

Willie Brown, age and address unavailable, was treated and released from Madison Parish Hospital following the beating, said Trooper Mark Dennis, spokesman for the state police.

Though he would not identify Brown as a suspect, Dennis said reports were that the beating was in retaliation for the deaths of Jasmine Smith, 19, and her friend, Nikesha R. Washington, 18.

Smith’s body was found Saturday morning behind a chain link fence in the back of Tallulah City Park. Washington’s body was found about a mile away Friday night in a wooded area behind Wright Elementary School.

Authorities have not said how the women died.

Brown was indicted by a Madison Parish grand jury a year ago on charges of forcible rape, and Smith reportedly cooperated in the investigation against him. Brown recently bonded out of jail, but a spokesman with the Madison Parish District Attorney’s Office could not provide details.

Family members of Smith, who had a 3-year-old son and lived with her grandmother near the Tallulah City Park, have reportedly accused him of her death.

“Three individuals dressed in black battered or assaulted him enough that he had to seek medical treatment,” Dennis said. “I can’t say definitely that Willie Brown was assaulted as a part of this case. It could have been random.”

No suspects have been named in the women’s deaths, and authorities also are not releasing the cause of death or any details other than where the bodies were found. Dennis would not say if a weapon was found.

“We don’t want to do anything to hinder the investigation,” he said. “No details will be released until after an arrest is made.”

Four agencies are working on the investigation, Dennis said: state police, Tallulah Police Department, Madison Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Sixth District Attorney’s Office. The other agencies did not respond this morning to requests for information.

Tallulah, a city of about 9,000 residents and the seat of Madison Parish, is about 20 miles west of Vicksburg, just north of Interstate 20.

Dennis said tensions in the city are extremely high, with rampant rumors, hearsay and the apparent instance of vigilante justice threatening to impede the investigation.

“We conduct a professional investigation and we don’t need people taking it upon themselves to arrest anybody,” Dennis said. “Our detectives are working and working hard,” he said.

He asked that anyone with information about the deaths to contact authorities.