Posts tagged "New Orleans"

Shooting won’t end second-line parades, New Orleans officials say

New Orleans officials and cultural advocates say the Mother’s Day parade shootings that left 20 people injured won’t spell the end of second-line parades, the local tradition that celebrates the city and its people.

Police this week arrested two brothers and charged them with 20 counts each of attempted second-degree murder. They’re accused of firing into a second-line parade, scattering the crowd and wounding 19 with gunfire. One person was hurt fleeing the chaos.

In a second-line parade, watchers of a street procession of brass band musicians and elaborately clad marchers often join in, forming a “second line” of marchers.

Second-line parades have been around for generations as part of Mardi Gras and other holiday celebrations, and are perhaps best known as a feature of the city’s famed jazz funerals.

Last weekend’s Mother’s Day march was sponsored by the Original Big 7 Social Aid and Pleasure Club, and president Edward Buckner said they will re-stage it June 1 through the same neighborhood in New Orleans’ 7th Ward. They also plan to return next Mother’s Day, he said.

Buckner said the kind of violence that happened May 12 can’t be allowed to destroy such a unique tradition.

“These parades are for the people of New Orleans,” he said at a rally held at the shooting site. “We won’t let the streets beat us.”

Fred Johnson, president of the Black Men of Labor Social Aid and Pleasure Club, said he fully supports the Big 7′s plans.

“I would do the same thing,” he said. “Organizers of the Boston Marathon said they plan to put on next year’s marathon bigger and stronger. We can’t succumb to these types of actions. We can’t allow our freedoms in a city to get taken over by any kind of terrorist, local or otherwise.”

Johnson rejected the notion of doing away with the parades.

“You can’t hold the Big 7 hostage because of what someone else did,” he said. “If a shooting happens at a carnival parade, no one is saying to end those. Let’s be fair and square across the board. Eradicating a second line would be like me saying we won’t have Rex on carnival. That’s just not gonna happen. People come here from all over the world to embrace the city and the music played in the spirit of Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong.”

Second-line parades have also been featured in major motion pictures. One such procession in the French Quarter shows up in early segments of the 1973 James Bond film “Live and Let Die.”

“Second lines are an amazing part of our culture and we support them,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu has said.

Bruce Raeburn, curator of the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University, said any suggestion that second lines attract violence is invalid, as well.

“The reason occasional violence occurs is because of the crowd situation,” Raeburn said. “The crowd usually serves as cover for those who want to do violence the same as with Mardi Gras or the Bayou Classic.

“It’s the invaders to these events, the people who show up with guns, who use the second line as an opportunity to settle some scores. Those gunmen took out the hate they felt for society on the people at the second line. The second line is the victim here. Don’t blame the victim.”

In custody for last week’s shooting are 24-year-old Shawn Scott and 19-year-old Akein Scott. Each is being held on $10 million bond. Five others were arrested as accessories to the alleged crimes for allegedly helping the suspects avoid capture.

Motives for the shootings have not been given, but police said the shootings were believed to be drug-related and that the Scott brothers are thought to be members of a gang called the Frenchmen and Derbigny Boys.

New Orleans says gunfire won’t end ‘second lines’

New Orleans officials and cultural advocates say the Mother’s Day parade shootings that left 20 people injured won’t spell the end of second-line parades, the local tradition that celebrates the city and its people.

Police this week arrested two brothers and charged them with 20 counts each of attempted second-degree murder. They’re accused of firing into a second line, scattering the crowd and wounding 19 with gunfire. One person was hurt fleeing.

In a second-line parade, watchers of a street procession of brass band musicians and elaborately clad marchers often join in, forming a second line of marchers.

Second-line parades have been around for generations as part of Mardi Gras and other holiday celebrations, and are perhaps best known as a feature of the city’s famed jazz funerals.

Suspect arrested in New Orleans parade shooting that injured 19, police say

The suspect in a Mother’s Day parade shooting that left 19 people wounded in New Orleans was taken into custody Wednesday night, police said.

Akein Scott, 19, was arrested in the Little Woods section of eastern New Orleans, police department spokeswoman Remi Braden said. She said no additional details were available and would not be until Thursday morning.

An earlier police news release said Scott had previously been arrested on charges of illegal carrying of a weapon, illegal possession of a stolen firearm, resisting an officer, contraband to jail, illegal carrying of a weapon while in possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession of heroin.

It was not immediately clear whether Scott, who was arrested this past March, had been convicted on any of those charges.

Video released Monday showed a crowd gathered for the Sunday parade suddenly scattering in all directions, with some falling to the ground. They appear to be running from a man in a white T-shirt and dark pants who turns and runs out of the picture.

Police said they identified the suspect from the surveillance camera images.

Two children were among those wounded.

Gun violence has flared at two other city celebrations this year. Five people were wounded in a drive-by shooting in January after a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, and four were wounded in a shooting after an argument in the French Quarter in the days leading up to Mardi Gras. Two teens were arrested in connection with the MLK Day shootings; three men were arrested and charged in the Mardi Gras shootings.

Police: Man, 19, sought in N.O. parade shootings

New Orleans police and federal authorities are searching for a young man who’s suspected of opening fire at a Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans, wounding 19.

Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas identified the suspect late Monday as 19-year-old Akein Scott of New Orleans. Serpas said several people identified Scott as the gunman based on blurry surveillance camera images of the mass shooting.

Serpas said officers would be searching all night and into Tuesday for Scott, whom he called “no stranger to the criminal justice system.” He urged the teen, who has previous arrests on firearms and drug charges, to turn himself in.

Three gunshot victims remained in critical condition Monday, though their wounds didn’t appear to be life-threatening. Most of the wounded had been released from the hospital.

New Orleans police ID possible suspect in Mother’s Day parade shooting

Police identified a 19-year-old man as a suspect in the shooting of nearly 20 people during a Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans, saying several people had identified him as the gunman.

Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said they were looking for Akein Scott of New Orleans. He said it was too early to say whether he was the only shooter.

“We would like to remind the community and Akein Scott that the time has come for him to turn himself in,” Serpas said at a news conference outside of police headquarters.

A photo of Scott hung from a podium in front of the police chief. “We know more about you than you think we know,” he said.

The mass shooting showed again how far the city has to go to shake a persistent culture of violence that belies the city’s festive image. Earlier, police announced a $10,000 reward and released blurry surveillance camera images, which led to several tips from the community.

“The people chose to be on the side of the young innocent children shot instead of on the side of a coward who shot into the crowd,” Serpas said.

Angry residents said gun violence — which has flared at two other city celebrations this year — goes hand-in-hand with the city’s other deeply rooted problems such as poverty and urban blight. The investigators tasked with solving Sunday’s shooting work within an agency that’s had its own troubles rebounding from years of corruption while trying to halt violent crime.

“The old people are scared to walk the streets. The children can’t even play outside,” Ronald Lewis, 61, said Monday as he sat on the front stoop of his house, about a half a block from the shooting site. His window sill has a hole from a bullet that hit it last year. Across the street sits a house marked by bullets he said were fired two weeks ago.

“The youngsters are doing all this,” said Jones, who was away from home when the latest shooting broke out.

Video released early Monday shows a crowd gathered for a boisterous second-line parade suddenly scattering in all directions, with some falling to the ground. They appear to be running from a man in a white T-shirt and dark pants who turns and runs out of the picture.

Police were working to determine whether there was more than one gunman, though they initially said three people were spotted fleeing from the scene. Whoever was responsible escaped despite the presence of officers who were interspersed through the crowd as part of routine precautions for such an event.

Serpas said Scott has previously been arrested for resisting arrest, possession of a firearm and narcotics charges. It was not immediately clear whether he had been convicted on any of those.

Serpas said ballistic evidence gathered at the scene was giving them “very good leads to work on.”

Witness Jarrat Pytell said he was walking with friends near the parade route when the crowd suddenly began to break up.

“I saw the guy on the corner, his arm extended, firing into the crowd,” said Pytell, a medical student.

“He was obviously pointing in a specific direction; he wasn’t swinging the gun wildly,” Pytell said.

Pytell said he tended to one woman with a severe arm fracture — he wasn’t sure if it was from a bullet or a fall — and to others including an apparent shooting victim who was bleeding badly.

Three gunshot victims remained in critical condition Monday, though their wounds didn’t appear to be life-threatening. Most of the wounded had been released from the hospital.

It’s not the first time gunfire has shattered a festive mood in the city this year. Five people were wounded in a drive-by shooting in January after a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, and four were wounded in a shooting after an argument in the French Quarter in the days leading up to Mardi Gras. Two teens were arrested in connection with the MLK shootings; three men were arrested and charged in the Mardi Gras shootings.

The shootings are bloody reminders of the persistence of violence in the city, despite some recent progress.

Last week, law enforcement officials touted the indictment of 15 people in gang-related crimes, including the death of a 5-year-old girl killed by stray gunfire at a birthday party a year ago.

The city’s 193 homicides in 2012 are seven fewer than the previous year, while the first three months of 2013 represented an even slower pace of killing.

Leading efforts to lower the homicide rate is a police force that’s faced its own internal problems and staffing issues. At about 1,200 members, the department is 300 short of its peak level.

Serpas, chief since 2010, has been working to overcome the effects of decades of scandal and community mistrust arising from what the U.S. Justice Department says has been questionable use of force and biased policing. Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Serpas have instituted numerous reforms, but the city is at odds with the Justice Department over the cost and scope of more extensive changes.

Landrieu’s administration initially agreed to a reform plan expected to cost tens of millions over the next several years. But Landrieu says he wants out now because Justice lawyers entered a separate agreement with Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman over the violent and unsanitary New Orleans jail — funded by the city but operated by Gusman.

The site of the Sunday shooting — about 1.5 miles from the heart of the French Quarter — showcases other problems facing the city. Stubborn poverty and blight are evident in the area of middle-class and low-income homes. Like other areas hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the area has been slower to repopulate than wealthier areas. And Landrieu’s stepped up efforts to demolish or renovate blighted properties — a pre-Katrina problem made worse by the storm — remain too slow for some.

Frank Jones, 71, whose house is a few doors down from the shooting site, said the house across from him has been abandoned since Katrina. Squatters and drug dealers sometimes take shelter there, he said.

A city code inspector, who declined to be interviewed, was there Monday

“It’s too late,” Jones said. “Should have fixed it from the very beginning. A lot of people are getting fed up with the system.”

NOPD: 12 hurt at New Orleans parade shooting

New Orleans police say that a dozen people have been shot during a Mother’s Day second-line parade.

Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas told reporters at least 12 people were shot during the parade in the city’s 7th Ward.

Police say the incident happened about 2 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of Frenchmen and Villere streets.

The Times-Picayune reports there were about 200 people at the event when gunfire erupted.

Serpas told reporters the victims include a 10-year-old who sustained a minor wound. WDSU-TV reports at least four people were in surgery and others had been taken to four area hospitals.

Nobody has been arrested. It’s unclear what sparked the gunfire.

Police are said to be looking for three people in connection with the attack.

As many as 19 injured in shooting at New Orleans Mother’s Day parade

New Orleans police are searching for three suspects Sunday after at least 19 people were shot during a Mother’s Day parade.

Police spokeswoman Remi Braden said in an email that many of the victims were grazed and most of the wounds weren’t life-threatening. No deaths were reported.

The FBI said that the shooting appeared to be “street violence” and wasn’t linked to terrorism.

The victims included 10 men, seven women, a boy and a girl. The children, both 10 years old, were grazed and in good condition. Police said at least two people were in surgery Sunday night.

Mary Beth Romig, a spokeswoman for the FBI in New Orleans, said federal investigators have no indication that the shooting was an act of terrorism.

“It’s strictly an act of street violence in New Orleans,” she said.

Chief Serpas announced in a press conference earlier on Sunday that the youngest victim is believed to be a 10-year-old girl. Police say she suffered a graze wound, WVUE Fox 8 reported.

Officers were interspersed with the marchers, which is routine for such events. As many as 400 people joined in the procession that stretched for about 3 blocks, though only half that many were in the immediate vicinity of the shooting, Serpas said.

Serpas said that the procession had been accompanied by officers, who saw two or three suspects run from the scene in the city’s 7th Ward.

Nobody has been arrested. It’s unclear what sparked the gunfire.

Eleven patients have been admitted to Interim LSU Public Hospital with no life threatening injuries, hospital spokesperson Marvin McGraw said.

Second-line parades are loose processions in which people dance down the street, often following behind a brass band. They can be impromptu or planned and are sometimes described as moving block parties.

A social club called The Original Big 7 organized Sunday’s event. The group was founded in 1996 at the Saint Bernard housing projects, according to its MySpace page.

The neighborhood where the shooting happened was a mix of low-income and middle-class row houses, some boarded up. As of last year, the neighborhood’s population was about 60 percent of its pre-Hurricane Katrina level.

Police vowed to make swift arrests.

“We’ll get them. We have good resources in this neighborhood,” Serpas said.

Click for more from WVUE Fox 8.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Rare coins worth millions displayed in New Orleans

Coin enthusiasts are getting a glimpse of more than $100 million worth of rare money including some of the crown jewels of money collecting at the National Money Show in New Orleans.

Among the attractions are two exceedingly rare 1913 Liberty Head nickels valued at more than $5 million. One was hidden in a Virginia closet for four decades before selling at auction last month for $3.17 million. The other was frequently carried in the pocket of a former owner from Wisconsin so he could show it to strangers.

The show runs through Saturday.

Other highlights include an 1804 silver dollar valued at more than $3 million and an example of the first coin authorized by President George Washington — a 1792 half disme, an early spelling of the word dime.

Sculptures to mark evac points in New Orleans

More than a dozen sculptures that will be used to call attention to evacuation points around New Orleans are arriving in the city.

The statues are simple larger-than-life stick figures that appear as though they are poised to hail a bus. They’re being unloaded Monday and will later be installed at 17 pickup points for New Orleans residents who need transportation out of town when a hurricane evacuation is ordered.

They were designed by Boston artist Douglas Kornfeld who was selected for the work by the Arts Council of New Orleans. That group is working with Evacuteer.org, an organization that coordinates volunteers who help with the massive evacuation effort that accompanies a hurricane threat.

Ravens hire Steve Spagnuolo

… of the Saints and Giants on Friday as a senior defensive assistant. Spagnuolo will have an opportunity at redemption following an unsettled 2012 season in which he oversaw a historically bad defense with scandal-plagued New Orleans. … In the …
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