It Finally Happened

We all knew it would. And then, it did.

An innocent bystander was shot inside the lobby of a Central Business District hotel by a stray bullet from a fight going on outside Wednesday at about 9:30 p.m., said Sgt. Joe Narcisse, a New Orleans Police Department spokesman.
A fight broke out outside the hotel in the 200 block of Carondelet Street and gunshots rang out, Narcisse said. After the gunfire stopped, it was discovered that a bullet shattered the window of the Holiday Inn Express lobby and struck a hotel guest, who was not identified.

Happy Mardi Gras Tourists. Also, duck.

ErryBody

Once in a while, we get correspondence over here at NOMB. And generally we ignore it. Not because we think we're that important or anything, we just got other business that's all. You people know how that is. But sometimes, the letters and comments are so strange, we just got to repost them.

This little ditty came from a blogger called "GetThePressInvolved" who has a profile, but no blog as of yet, and the profile has only one view. What does that mean? Nothing to us, that's for sure.

Here's what he/she had to say about the incident in Jeff Parish a few days ago:

The story was a little different in reality...the police officers were both in plain clothes with nothing to identify them as police officers--on or off duty. Kyle Brown was with two women and he exited the vehicle with the weapon in hand. The police department has been extremely tight lipped about the entire situation. The name of the victim has been released, but the names of the officers involved have not. Also, Mr Brown was shot four times and never fired his weapon. If he is charged, the correct charge would be attempted assault with a deadly weapon. The word murder implies intent, and brandishing a weapon but not firing it doesn't even move it past attempted assault.

The police department clearly has an issue on it's hands because the facts are pretty maligned. The statement nears libel by indicating that all the information presented is fact. ALLEGEDLY would be the correct term.

Kyle Brown just got back from IRAQ serving his country, and gets shot in his own country by two plain clothes, off-duty police officers.

The statement released by the police fails to mention the two women present with Mr Brown, it fails to mention that the PLAIN CLOTHES deputies fired on Mr Brown 5 TIMES and hit him 4 times. Kyle Brown is still in the Active Reserves with the Army, and he was scheduled to take the physical to become an officer with the Bay St. Louis police department.

After serving in IRAQ, Kyle Brown clearly knew his way around a weapon and a dangerous situation, so why is it that the OFF DUTY POLICE IN PLAIN CLOTHES felt it necessary to shoot at him 5 times and strike him 4 times? Furthermore, why would an armed man, with training and experience likely exceeding the police officers' not get off a single shot? And at 4 in the morning, what clues did Mr Brown have that the two men were in deed Police officers?

No information is being released at all by the police department.

Make of it what you will, but two things are for sure. 1) This person knows the victim. And 2) NOMB sure ain't the press.

Hope we helped out by reposting it, to whatever ends it comes.

After Breakfast

We had just finish our posting, and were out and about in the city in a white van picking up lumber, when we passed from the I-10 to the 90 westbound headed for the river. NOMB in the passanger seat, we look down to the street below to see about a thousand police cars down at the Urban Wear stripmall, the one with big red letters next to the new Home Depot they're building. The yellow tape is going up. All different kinds of cops are there. Some in blue formals, some in olive green BDUs, some in SWAT type outfits. Every size and shape and make of official vehicle is out there too, doors open and lights on. We strain to see closer.
"I think they've got a body down there," we say.
The driver does not blink or move his head. He only gives a slight "humph" as he merges into the light morning traffic.


A New Orleans police officer,Nicola Cotton, 24, was fatally shot Monday morning in Central City by a man who police initially called a possible rape suspect, but who relatives said is a paranoid schizophrenic transient with no history of sexual assault.

Cotton had become a regular customer of the Magnolia Superette. The employees called her "ponytail" because of her hair style. Farah described Cotton as sweet, a polite woman with a badge. Typically, she ordered grits in the morning, he said.
On Monday, she had a smoked sausage sandwich with cheese on toast. About 30 minutes later, paramedics rushed to the scene of her shooting.

Read The Whole Story Here

Mardi Gras Misses

The blue lights were out in force Saturday in Central City to protect the parking and walking rights of the St. Charles parade goers. And the Time-Picayune brandishes the a version of the following headline in the print edition of Sunday's Paper

Hornets Pistolwhip Spurs

Of course, they pull back on the verbiage quickly, but trust us, that's what it read. There is irony left folks, it just lurks in the back section sometimes.

Only in the NO.
Also only in NO, the weekend's body count, second to Rambo's new picture of course.

Thursday: Proximity Rating 3
A man was shot Thursday night in the 7th Ward.
Police didn't disclose his name or provide information about his wounds but said he was stable after arriving at University Hospital.
Police received a report of a shooting near St. Anthony and Marais streets shortly after 7 p.m., NOPD spokeswoman Shereese Harper said. Officers at the scene learned a man had suffered gunshot wounds, she said.

Friday: It's those little touches, those quotes, that make it real. Don't you think?
A New Orleans man was shot and killed Friday afternoon on a Gentilly street in front of the home of relatives, police said. The New Orleans Police Department's 5th District received a report of a man shot near the intersection of Abundance Street and Florida Avenue about 1 p.m., said officer Sabrina Richardson, a police spokeswoman. Courtney Thompson, 19, was shot several times.
Thompson's sister, Dominique Thompson, later said that her brother had been visiting family at the house with his girlfriend.
Thompson described her brother as a person who always smiled and got along with everybody. "I don't know why they killed him," she said. "He wasn't in no beef with nobody."

Saturday: This one has another touch to it, getting popped while getting your haircut. Note the scene building at the end there.
New Orleans recorded another killing Saturday afternoon when a 19-year-old man was gunned down inside an Algiers barbershop. Joseph Cancelo of New Orleans died of multiple gunshot wounds, said John Cancelo died inside the Exclusive Cuts barbershop in the 6400 block of Gen. Meyer Avenue. He became at least the 14th homicide victim in the city this month.After the killing, about two dozen people lined the neutral ground across the street as children wearing Carnival beads ran around. They watched as investigators snapped pictures and placed several lime-green cones on the floor, marking where bullet casings were found.

Sunday:
New Orleans police were called Sunday evening to the scene of a shooting death Uptown.
Second District officers responding to a call of a shooting found Henry Butler IV in back of an abandoned house in the 1900 block of Foucher Street, near the corner of Danneel Street, about 5:30 p.m., authorities said.

We at NOMB wonder where this sudden trend of humanizing victims in the papers is coming from, and wonder also where they've been for a year.
Where's my brother? Where's my little brother? Tell me he's not dead. Please!" one voice cried to an officer as the other two women held her back.
Shortly after, another woman's voice pierced the otherwise silent corner.
"That's my son," she cried repeatedly in between heavy sobs as firefighters called
to the scene set up portable floodlights behind the house where Butler's body lay.

And not to be out done, NOPD got thiers in too.

A man was shot by an Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff's Office deputy early Sunday after pointing a gun at the deputy and another officer in a French Quarter parking lot, police said. Kyle Brown, 21, was in critical condition after being transported to a local hospital, according to New Orleans Police Department spokesman Officer Jonette Williams. When released from the hospital, Brown, whose address was not provided, will be booked with attempted murder, Williams said.
The incident occurred about 4:15 a.m. in a parking lot in the 100 block of Conti Street. According to investigators, the deputies were working a private security detail at the lot when they noticed a man exiting a parked vehicle and walking toward them with a handgun, Williams said.

JP Picks Up Slack

While things remain relatively "quiet" over here below Canal St, Jefferson Parish officials and residents get down to the business we do best. Unnecessary violence, oil, and shopping malls. Thanks JP, at least we know there's one place in the area where we can get some Applebees before getting gunned down in a motel parking lot.

A detective with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office fatally shot a man suspected of taking part in a drug deal Wednesday night, said Sgt. Larry Dyess, a sheriff's spokesman. Following a tip of a possible drug deal at the Home Sweet Home Motel in the 4200 block of Airline Drive, plainclothes detectives with the special investigations division on patrol in the area approached two men in the hotel's courtyard parking lot

Blah, blah, blah... man pulls gun, cop pulls man's card. End of story.
Next...

Seriously people, pay your rent.
Kenner police are seeking two men involved in a Tuesday-night shooting that left another man hospitalized in guarded condition, authorities said.
The two men were at the victim's home in the 400 block of Incarnate Word Drive shortly after 8 p.m., said Detective Brian McGregor of the Kenner Police Department.
One of the men, a former roommate of the victim, was arguing with him about rent money when the second man exited a black Dodge truck and shot at the victim three times,

Remember

NOMB takes a moment to remember The Drum Major of Peace. The man with the plan. The Montgomery Activist who sat at his table and thought of his daughter.

The Doctor. The Buddy. MLK.

and for those who forgot why the banks were closed, we present the following:

New Orleans police are investigating a Monday afternoon shooting in Algiers that left one man in critical condition. Officers responded to the 1900 block of Hendee Street about 2:42 p.m. on a call of shots fired, New Orleans Police Department spokesman Gary Flot said. While at the scene, they received another call of two gunshot victims at Ochsner Meadowcrest Hospital in Gretna.

Reasons

We speculate that this crime went down in this particular way on account of the arctic blast we've been feeling. After all, for this type of killing, you can stay in the car, with the windows up, and the heater on, and be comfortable through the whole thing...

A man died Sunday after he was intentionally struck by a vehicle driven by his daughter's boyfriend in eastern New Orleans, New Orleans police said. The victim was identified as Bertran Winfiel, 57, of New Orleans, by the Orleans Parish coroner's office. Thomas Henry IV, 28, of New Orleans, was booked with murder in the death.

Today, Rumors!

We come home to the site of a Chrystel convertible parked the wrong way on a one way, front end smashed to hell. Four MP's, who look like they've come from a keg party drinking from red plastic cups, are standing around talking amongst themselves.
"What happened" we ask.
The story: A neighborhood boy stole the car for a drug deal, got involved in a chase, and smashed into a tree over on Urqhart.
"They beat that boy pretty bad when they got him," says a neighbor.


Mean while, someone shoots someone else on Alvar and hides in the bushes.

Not a Rumor..
A man was shot in the 2600 block of Foliage Drive in Marrero on Wednesday night, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said.
Shortly before 6:30 p.m., deputies responding to a call of a man shot found a 33-year-old man with two gunshot wounds to his legs.

Whoops

Our Bad!

NOPD Makes a Mistake. Seriously.

Ethics

It is time, fair readers, to ask yourself how you really feel about this. Or better yet, ask yourselves how your candidate feels about it.

We at NOMB still maintain a strict "no murder is a good murder" policy, although stories like this force us to reevaluate our stance sometimes.

The 18-year-old implicated in a dozen Uptown armed robberies and linked to the Christmas night shooting of six people in Central City was gunned down midday Tuesday. Shortly after 12:15 p.m., gunshots rang out near the corner of Jackson Avenue and Willow Street in Central City, hitting Eldrin George several times in the leg and chest, police sources said. Eldrin George George ran half a block before collapsing, sources said. Paramedics took him to a hospital where he died less than two hours later.


It's stories like this though that remind us why we have that stance:
Nearly five months after robbers opened fire on seven people in an eastern New Orleans home, fatally wounding three, a fourth victim has died, the Orleans Parish coroner's office said.
Kiengkay Chomsy, 42, of eastern New Orleans, died Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at Canon Hospice, a day after he was transferred from University Hospital, chief coroner's investigator John Gagliano said. Chomsy died of complications from gunshot wounds to his head.

Never To Be Out Done

While the East remains a demilitarized zone, akin to the random sort of roadside bombish tendencies of a Middle Eastern state, Central City refuses to relinquish its hold of the "Most Dangerous Neighborhood in the City," crown.

Let it sparkle folks. After all, it is carnival.

A 20-year-old man was fatally shot Monday in the Central City neighborhood, New Orleans police said. The city's 10th murder victim of the year was identified as Monroe Walker of New Orleans by the Orleans Parish coroner's office. Walker was shot shortly after 5 p.m. at Philip and Magnolia streets. Police responding to a call about gunfire found several bullet casings in the intersection, but Walker had been driven to a local hospital by a private citizen

And, in the "This is Just Disgusting," department, we look this to Arabi:
An 83-year-old man was found bludgeoned to death outside his Arabi home Sunday night, just a few days after contractors had finished repairing damage from Hurricane Katrina and he moved back in, authorities and neighbors said. Sheriff's deputies found Peter Ruiz's body behind his house in the 400 block of Sable Drive about 8 p.m. after relatives reported him missing. Autopsy results are pending, but it appears Ruiz was killed by a blow to the forehead with an unknown blunt object.

Old, young, we don't care. All can eat at our table apparently.

Not Withstanding

Sometimes we feel like we harp too much on this murder thing, and that NOLA is no different than anywhere else, and that crime is bad in all areas suffering from socio-economic disparity and poor education.

Then we remember to read the news.

Proximity rating: 2, this one is close...
In the first New Orleans shooting to report, officers found Gervais Nicholas, 16, of New Orleans lying on the median at the intersection of Tulane Avenue and South Lopez Street with multiple gunshot wounds shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday

Proximity rating: 1, this one is too close...
In the second New Orleans incident, an unidentified man was found shot in the chest shortly after 4 a.m. Sunday at the corner of Bienville Avenue and North Rampart Street
Can you say NOAC?

But don't fret Orleans, Jefferson got it too:
In the Jefferson Parish incident, deputies are looking for two men who allegedly robbed and fatally shot 21-year-old Brandon Cotten of Marrero shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday

and finally, there were so many shootings so close together in the East that cops got confused:
Deputies responding to a report of a subject shot in the 2700 block of Bayou Adois Court subsequently learned that the incident occurred one block over on Bayou Carencro. They were told that the victim had already been transported to the hospital by an unidentified person.

Sunday from the Porch

A phone call:

"I was reading your blog," says friend
"Oh," says we.
"Yeah," says friend. "I can't believe someone was shot on the corner and I didn't even know."
"Your welcome," we say, not exactly sure what good, if any, our trespass has brought about as the words escape us.
"Sorry," we revise.

A Saturday of carnival shopping and health drinks brings relief to the NOLIA soldiers and heavy set Jeffersonian women at the variety store. Half making Indian outfits, half making ball gowns.

But NOMB still rocks the headlines.

Another in the NOLA "Burned Bodies" series. River/Lake still feel neglected.
An unidentified woman's body was found in a weeded lot in the 3600 block of Piety Street, a block from Higgins Boulevard. Tthe woman was dead before she was set on fire. She apparently died less than 24 hours before her body was discovered.
The body had burns on about 85 percent of its surface, including the back, chest and head, but the face had only minor burns that would not prevent its features from being recognized. It was suspected that the fire was set to cover up the cause of the woman's death. But the autopsy revealed the bullet wound, prompting Coroner Frank Minyard to classify the death as murder, making it at least the eighth homicide in the city this month.

The East: still hott with two t's

A man was shot dead Friday in eastern New Orleans. The victim, Scott Dorsey, 25, of New Orleans, was shot about 6:30 p.m. on Petit Bayou Lane near Willowbrook Drive in Village de l'Est. He died at the scene of several gunshot wounds.

Advocates for dangerous breed stutter, but refuse to give up party line, talk points.

Manson and Savannah -- two female pit bulls or pit bull hybrids of about 65 pounds each -- terrorized a portion of Treme Thursday afternoon, first ripping away at a screaming 4-year-old girl, then attacking a 56-year-old handyman.
The child's left ear was dangling by a thread of flesh after the dogs tugged, chewed and clawed at her, as if fighting over a bone, one resident said.

Morals

You might say this guy had it coming, what with the fact that he was booked with a 2007 murder almost one year ago, and now they find this. But NOMB sticks to its guns. Either you oppose all murder, or you condone all murder. There is no fudging.

A Marrero man, who was accused in the fatal shooting of another man last year, was killed in a hail of gunfire Wednesday morning on Ames Boulevard.
Christopher Davis, 23, was found dead from gunshot wounds to the body in the 1300 block of Ames at about 3:10 a.m. Deputies discovered Davis in a driveway after residents reported a body. .45-caliber shell casings were found nearby and a black handgun was found under his body.

This NOLA shooting occurred about three houses down for a NOMB supporter, his new baby, his two pugs, and his lawyer wife. It's block by block in the Crescent City, and it always spills over.

A man was in critical condition Wednesday night after a shooting in the Riverside neighborhood Uptown, authorities said. The shooting took place shortly after 7:30 p.m. near Annunciation and Austerlitz streets. A 25-year-old man was shot once in the back of the neck and once underneath his armpit.

Readership, Crime: Both Up!

6:30 in the AM in NOLA and its wet, hot, dark and January. Carnival Season is upon us. The hotels and the media are in cahoots to report that everyone had a great time at the BCS Championship, and NOMB, back on it's heels a bit, sends warm regards to Gig Harbor, Washington.

Oh yeah, also, there's murder.

What's with all the firestarting and body burning in 2008? It's like criminals are having a renaissance of sorts. Did they forget about the river?

An elderly Marrero man was found stabbed to death in his home Monday night after firefighters responded to a structure fire that may have been set to hide the crime.

The Champs

We know most everyone out there thinks the only slaying that occured yesterday was off Poydras St and involved some visitors from Ohio, but the truth is New Orleans, LA is going to be the site of another season championship this year.

At the pace we're on, we'll be murder champs second year in a row. Just like the paper today claimed - Tigers are first to take second BCS crown - this Algiers murder keeps our run to the top strong.

David Sisolak Jr. died about 8:20 a.m. in a rear parking area in the 1700 block of Hero Boulevard in the renovated Fischer public housing complex.
According to New Orleans police investigators, 4th District officers responded to a call of a shooting and found Sisolak inside a four-door white Chevy Impala with a gunshot wound. Police also found narcotics on the scene, between L.B. Landry Avenue and Hendee Street

Finally, French

So, while the reports are flying in, we thought we might take a second to confirm the following.

Yes, someone translated us into French.
About time if you ask us.

New Orleans meurtre blog
Toutes les choses crime. Toutes les choses que La Nouvelle-Orléans. Ce blog ne tolèrent meurtre, ou la mort.

Can't Keep Up

Under a house for ten hours on a Saturday, it seems to some of our editors that life just stops moving. But it doesn't. With as many murders as days in 2008, one might wonder why a typical ninth ward mortgage on a new home purchase is upwards of $1900 before taxes and utilities.

All factors considered, why would we keep living here? For the blogging opportunities, of course. Give the papers an opportunity for self-referentiality.

While tourists fill the streets of the Quarters in Red and White and Yellow and Purple, locals fill the streets with the black blood of our cities youth and hispanic labor force. Apparently.

Lets start on the West Bank: The Devil is in the Details, eh Flot?
The victim of a Friday evening shooting has been identified Saturday by the coroner's office as Jose Francisco Ramos, 44. Ramos was shot at least three times, including once in the face, and died in the front yard at 138 Pinewood Court.
Detectives believe the motive was robbery. The suspects probably are in their late teens. Both wearing hooded garments under puffy ski jackets with squares on them at the time of the killing. One of the parkas was black and the other was brown.

NO East:
A teenage shooting victim died Saturday, two days after he was gunned down in eastern New Orleans, the Orleans Parish coroner's office said. He was the city's third homicide victim in the first five days of 2008, police said. Kendrick Quinn, 18, of New Orleans, was shot in the head Thursday shortly before 4 p.m. in the 6800 block of Parc Brittany Boulevard and was taken to University Hospital

Two Murders Last Night:
Holy Crap Holy Cross, this one has got a proximity rating of 2.

In the first incident, 5th District police responded to a call of a "male down" in the 1100 block of Lizardi Street, near the intersection of St. Claude Avenue, at approximately 1 a.m. Sunday. They found a man with multiple gunshot wounds lying in an alley adjacent to an abandoned house. There was drug paraphernalia on the scene, police said

The Second: Not so much.
Police were alerted to the second homicide just after 7 a.m. Sunday. They found a man dead of a gunshot wound near John F. Kennedy High School, in the 5700 block of Wisner Boulevard. No further details about the incident were available.

And for good measure:

Eastern New Orleans was the scene of another shooting Saturday.
A man was shot in the face and shoulder about 5 p.m. in the 10700 block of Roger Drive, a block north of Interstate 10, said Jeb Tate of New Orleans Emergency Medical Services. He said the victim was taken to University Hospital in critical condition. The shooting occurred between Read Boulevard and Wright Road.

There also was a shooting Saturday in New Orleans' Irish Channel neighborhood.
At about 2 p.m., 6th District officers found a 27-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the knee near Constance Street and Washington Avenue. The injury was not life-threatening.


RECAP:

That's 5 murders and two shootings, one of which is critical.

Dear Lord,
Please sort this out.
-NOMB

Let's Go

And we're off for 2008.

A Crimestoppers tip Thursday morning led police to an abandoned public school building in the Lower 9th Ward where they discovered the burned body of the city's first homicide victim who had been fatally shot in the head.

The man was an African-American male, estimated to be between 20 and 25 years old, Gagliano said. He was about 5 foot 4, 135 pounds, with black hair with twists.

He these tattoos:
-- The name "Mary" on the left side of his chest.
-- The word "Bounce" on the outside of his right forearm, from wrist to elbow.
-- The word "Back" on the outside of his left forearm.
-- The name "Terrell" on the inside of his left forearm.
-- The initials "D.R." below the Terrell tattoo.
-- The letters "RIP" on the inside of his right forearm.

At 135, this is a small kid, with all the official markings of a "thug". Although we've heard it said, and completely agree, that "thug" is just a new way of saying nigger. In 2008, NOMB isn't going to let ourselves get caught up in the us vs. them rhetoric. No more thugs. Just a skinny kid who shouldn't have been shot and set on fire.

It's the first official murder of the year.

Bounce back, we about to bounce back.

New Start

We were so busy patting ourselves on the back for that diatribe we posted before the new year, we totally forgot to do our job.

Not murders actually, but we'll take attempted to start the year off right:

Two people were injured in early morning attacks Tuesday, according to New Orleans Police.
The first incident occurred about 3:30 a.m. in a parking garage at Girod and Lafayette.
Police had few details other than to say that a man was shot while in the garage. His injuries were described as non-life threatening.
A short time later police were on the scene of a stabbing at the World Trade Center at the foot of Canal Street.