Beef

We get a call from a friend who is moving out of town, like everyone else it seems these days. He, his wife, and baby are going out West.
"They won't let us out side," he says. "While they're investigating."
"On that same corner?" we ask.
"It's that same corner. So its got to be that same beef."
"Well," we say, "At least your moving."
"There were even more shots than last time," he says.


New Orleans police are investigating the death Wednesday of a 37-year-old man in the Lower 9th Ward. He was shot about 6:40 p.m. in the 5600 block of Dauphine Street.
Fifth District officers responded to a call of a shooting and found the man on the ground with an apparent gunshot wound to the head. He was dead on the scene.

A 17-year-old New Orleans youth was arrested Wednesday night, accused of shooting at two officers on an Uptown street shortly after 8 p.m. The officers were in the 3800 block of Constance Street, talking with a woman who had reported an armed man in her neighborhood. Jonathan Domingue, who was at the corner of Constance and Gen. Taylor streets, fired a 12-gauge shotgun at the officers and the woman.

Coming Down The Street

We see a man limping towards us as we unload our groceries. He's at the end of the block. By the time all our bags are inside, he's finally made it up to the truck.
"You alright?" we ask.
"I got shot a couple times," he says as he hikes up his sagging pants. He isn't bleeding or anything. It must have been in the days or weeks before.
Still, "We wouldn't say that's alright," we tell him.
"It's cool," he says. "I'm just walking it off."
He goes about his business, gets halfway up the next block, turns around and says, "You have a nice day now," and waves.

The man that died yesterday on S. Saratoga was named Ryen J. Tate. Yes, he had a criminal record. No, that doesn't make it ok.

New Today:
A 20-year-old man, Gerald Thorton, was murdered Sunday night on the lawn of an Algiers home in the 6300 block of Kingston Court, about a block away from where he lived.

When asked if the family wants to comment, someone responds:
"What's the story going to be on? That all these black boys keep getting killed before they even turn 20?"

Sunday

All the children are red-eyed from the chlorine in the pool. It's too hot to wear clothes and people are yelling at each other over whose dog barks the most on them street.

This is New Orleans Lifestyle Branding at its best. But who is gonna sponsor us?

We need lifestyle sponsorship for food, and sports drinks, and eye-drops, and sutures.


A shooting last night in the 1300 block of South Saratoga Street left three victims, all with gunshot wounds. Emergency medical technicians summoned to the scene pronounced one of the men dead. The other two were hospitalized for treatment.


The billboards will read:
NOLA - Too Hott to Live

Decisions

You can live on the West Bank if you want. You deal with the traffic, the bridge commute, the teenage girls in the Mega-Plex talking through the movie. Same for the guy on the date next to you who answers his phone. The McDonald's and strip malls. Do it and you can score this:

West Bank crime statistics show overall reduction

or you can live on the East Bank and enjoy the following:

Three people were shot Friday evening at the intersection of Tchoupitoulas and Dufossat . Two woman, one man. They were taken to the hospital. Motive, suspects, and victim condition? Your guess is as good as ours.

We know, we know, it's an oversimplification.

East

WE are riding in the truck with a co-worker. He says he was raised in the east. He hates it there.
"Why would any one want to rebuild a 40 year-old ranch home?"


New Orleans police are investigating the apparent murder of an unidentified woman whose body was found in her home late Thursday in the 14,000 block of Dwyer Road.

"She was a nice lady," said Thuc Nguyen, who attended Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church with the deceased

SO we guess she is identified, but having her name withheld.

On a brighter note: Thank God Warren Riley stepped up. and fired those power abusing jerks posing as police officers
Whoa, that was kind of an out of character sentence for us.

Not an Update

We were wrong. It wasn't the hurricane in the air we smelled yesterday. It was the oil. When we thought the new diner on the corner of Franklin gave us food poisoning because we were queasy, that was probably the oil.
McCain was a no show. NOPD is in a quagmire. And we, the majority of the editors work alone in the neighborhoods with little to protect us but our hammers

Also, in case you are in need of a "what the hell?" kind of NOLA moment:

Theft or Burglary from Inside a Car: 1-10 East Twin Span Exit, Friday 10:35 am.

Sometimes we wish we had access to the police reports on this stuff.

Destruction

WE step out of the house this morning and our nostrils are stinging. Must be the hurricane a-coming. Or it could be the massive amount of dust kicked up by yesterdays demolition of half of Treme.

Anyway, here's one we missed from yesterday:

1)A 24-year-old man was shot to death Monday afternoon and found inside a building down the street from the 6th District police station. Officers responded to a call of gunshots fired just after 1 p.m. When they arrived at the Happy Jack Social and Pleasure Club at 1418 S. Rampart St., they discovered a man inside with gunshot wounds

Missing The Boat

Maybe we're the ones who're confused but does this make sense:
We find reports of murders from Friday on Tuesday, but get Sunday's murders on Monday. Does chronology matter to anyone but us? Also, can we says Sunday's murders. Didn't we pick on the Times-Picayune for that same thing yesterday?

We're sorry. We don't mean to hassle them, it's just, that's their job. And this, this is just our little warped hobby, being updated on the fly from inside a warehouse. A warehouse dangerously close to the following...

Murders:
1)Friday 10:15 PM Deshawn Stewart, 18, was shot to death in the 1500 block of Prieur. (It doesn't say if its North or South Prieur)
2) 10:40, Friday: Anthony Brooks of New Orleans, 20, died of gunshot wounds in the 3100 block of Marais.

LETTER BOX:

NOMB got some letters yesterday, let's take a look:

Swampwoman:Do you know the total murder count so far this year? The TP hasn't included the tally in their articles lately...

Sorry swampwoman, we really don't have an official count. We are more interested in the list, the structure of the reportage, the details, the cartography, and the connectivity of murder in the city, not really the number so much. Each one always seems individual to us.

Anonymous:Is NOMB going to make an endorsement in the DA race? I would think it appropriate.

Gee whiz that's mighty flattering, but probably totally inappropriate in our opinion for the following reasons:
1)We don't know shit about the officialness of city politics. Although we sure know enough to be scared to death of city hall, to enter with care, to glean as much information from them as possible while giving as little as possible.
2)Our affiliation, politically, is with the victims of murder, no matter how bad their rap sheet is, no matter what they did with their lives, no matter what kind of beef they made on the street. We think the only way to stop this is to humanize it. We also acknowledge the irony of that sentiment. After all, what's more humanizing, more personal, than getting murdered?

What We Were Doing...

This Sunday, we got free coffee in celebration of a new baby, read a Italian surrealist in bed, made a pile of baked ziti full of cheese, and watched a movie.

If you were chillin' out in the streets of NO, you, unfortunately, might have gotten shot. That is, if you were one of these folks:

1) A 41-year old maybe Latin America man was killed 1:30 a.m., at the intersection of North Derbigny and Spain Streets.
2)Kerry Emery, 28, was found lying in the street, suffering from apparent gunshot wounds to the torso. This all went down around 10:20 a.m. in the 3300 block of Clouet Street in the Ninth Ward.

Pop Quiz:
Readers, please identify 2 mistakes in the following print.
3)The last murder's shots were fired at approximately 7 p.m. Uptown, according to police, and they claimed the life of Marvin Louis, 19, of New Orleans. in 8700 block of Belfast Street, arrived to find Louis lying in the street.

Ok, ok, we know...it's a tough one. We'll help out.
1) 8700 blk of Belfast. Yea, that's Hollygrove.
2) #3 is a passive sentence. For the record, murders don't fire shots. Murderers fire shots.

A Gap of Information

We know we saw a blotter a couple days ago that had another of those infamous NOLA Aggravated Batteries with an Assault Rifle, or however their couching violent crime in the city these days, but when we got to looking for the old Metro section, we found that our overly "Green" roommates has recycled it. SO ya'll will just have to take our word for it.

Aggravated Assault with a Blade to the gut:

Elysian Fields 2400blk - Sunday 6:04 PM

Speaking of Aggravation Assaults, how about these NOPD? Won't move your car? Pistol in the face. Don't want to have familiar relations with us? We'll force you. What color shirt is that you're wearing today? Look out, that will actually get you some demerits.

Ramble Ramble

For The Lawyers

Could someone level with us? We read the terminology, but we just can't wrap our heads around it. Aggravated Battery Involving a Shooting (ABIS)? We remember a few days back when we heard that a incident involving a ABIS was upgraded to Attempted Murder after the cops realized that 1 of the 6 bullets wounds on the victims body was in his head.
Such logic astounds us.
If you're shooting a gun at someone, you're trying to to kill them, no? We mean, isn't that the intended purpose of the instrument? Isn't it sheer luck most times that the victim lives? Luck or misuse of the instrument?
Is this that whole, if they shoot 'em below the waist it ain't murder bullshit? Remember the football player who dies from a gunshot wound to the thigh?

Anyway, if you're gonna shoot, shoot to kill. If you're gonna use a gun, get charged with attempted murder. That's the way we feel. By all means, let us know why we're wrong.

Aggravated Battery Involving Shootings:
1) Spruce St. 8700 blk, Friday 1:26 PM
2) Maple Leaf Dr. 4100 blk Friday 11:38 PM

Aggravated Battery Involving Stabbings:
1) Toledano St. 3100 blk Friday 11:19 AM
2) Chef Menteur HWY. 7200 blk 10:38 PM


So, we guess that the man shot in Gentilly yesterday, Terence Vine, known to friends and fans as "Sporty T., is the victim of an Attempt Aggravated Battery With An AK-47, AKA Murder.

The Truth

We were ready to turn in our hats, or more correctly, turn over a new leaf. We wanted to tell you about the signs of recovery. Most importantly the sign off of Port and St. Claude advertising a new bicycle shop in the neighborhood, our profound love of swimming laps, the great book store behind Sound Cafe.

But of course, we got excited to soon.

New Orleans police officers found an unidentified 41-year-old man shot to death inside of a FEMA trailer in Gentilly this morning. NOPD received a call of shots fired at 4:22 a.m. from 5150 Painters St. Emergency responders went into a trailer at that address and found a man inside, shot multiple times.


Authorities are searching for two gunmen who kicked down the door of an Old Jefferson residence early Friday morning and shot a man in the legs after threatening to kill his children.

All this aside, there really does seem to be a down swing in the crime these days. Lord knows who we can credit with that. One things for sure, it ain't the school system.

Sunday

We are not, despite popular opinion, upset by the lack of material to post on the blog. In fact, in the absence of our regularly scheduled list of violent offenses against the city and citizens of NO, we present the following:

http://www.psychogeo.com/streetmap.htm

The East Is In The House

Does anyone remember what happened to Jeru the Damaga?

Anyway, it seems like getting shot out front of a club is a pretty real chance you take when you go out for a drink in the chopper city. Of course, going out for cigarettes, or milk, or to see a movie, or to your girl's house. Each one of these little daily endeavors carries with it an element of danger.

Are you a gambler by trade, or do you just like rush?
1)Around midnight at the intersection of Chef Menteur Highway and Laine Avenue, officers found the 34-year-old victim lying in the street from an apparent gunshot wound in the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A 32-year-old woman was also shot in the arm, and is listed in stable condition

2)In a separate incident, police around 3 a.m. found a 30-year-old man suffering from a stab wound to the throat in the 7300 block of Read Boulevard. Medical officials arrived soon after, but the man was pronounced dead on the scene, according to police

Drills

Today, the city is conducting evacuation drills in different neighborhoods to test NOLA's preparedness. Participants who are playing the roles of of our weary flood victims are encourage to bring their dogs, children, and weapons of choice to the mock melee.
Melee (from the French mêlée IPA: [mele]) generally refers to disorganized close combat involving a group of fighters. A melee ensues when groups become locked together in combat with no regard to group tactics or fighting as an organized unit; each participant fights as an individual

Shoooootings...

1) 3100 blk Washington Ave, 3:30 pm - man shot in hip while shooting hoops.

Staaaaaaabings...

1100 blk Columbus (spelled Colunbus on all the street signs between Claiborne and N. Tonti) 8:22 pm - Man is stabbed by son-in-law. Police and step children every where have absolutely no reaction

2) 1000 Blk Vallette St. 7:51 pm

We got an inquiry yesterday from a reader asking for more info on one of these reports taken from the police blotter. Unfortunately, this is about all the info you can expect, unless you got a friend who works for NOPD, or maybe you work at the counter of a 24-hour lunch spot that is frequented by loose-lipped police officers.

The Wrap-Up

We come back to the city, we see a man parked on the sidewalk being handcuffed by a plain-clothes. We hear two girls fighting in the street over the particulars of the child support wage garnishment system. We get a full dose of the heat. We get back to work...

1)Early Sunday, a 16-year-old boy was shot in the lower back following a fight in the French Quarter, near the intersection of Canal Street and North Rampart Street
2)Late Saturday, a 21-year-old man and a female were shot Uptown. The two were sitting in a vehicle about 11:20 p.m. at the intersection of Milan Street and North Prieur Street when a male approached and opened fire. The man was shot in the face; the female was shot in the hand
3)An 18-year-old man was shot earlier Saturday at the intersection of Hollygrove and Olive streets in the Hollygrove neighborhood. He was shot in the hip while in a vehicle
4)On Friday evening, police investigated the shooting of 25-year-old man in the St. Roch neighborhood. The victim was standing on a porch in the 1700 block of Spain Street about 6:30 p.m. when a man approached with a gun. The victim was shot in the leg

Vegas?

Listen to 93.3 ever?
What happens at the Duck-Off...

New Orleans police are investigating the apparent shooting death of a man found inside a vehicle in the 7th Ward early Sunday. The victim was in the Duck Off Bar in the 2300 block of A.P. Tureaud Avenue when he had an altercation with two other men. After the fight, the two suspects followed the victim outside and shot him with handgun.

Keep 'Em Coming

there's more where that came from...

New Orleans Police are searching for a 22-year-old man they say shot and killed his 17-year-old girlfriend early Wednesday morning inside of his home in the 2100 block of Franklin Avenue.

Not Fucking Around

Wanna see what were up against this?

1)10 p.m. Wednesday, a 21-year-old male victim was knocking on a door on the 200 block of North Robertson Street in the Iberville area when two suspects approached him from behind and fired five shots.

2) 11 p.m. 1900 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard, suspect got out of the car and shot the victim in the foot, police said.

3) 1:30 Thurs morning, a 24-year-old victim was standing on the 1400 block of Bienville Street when two men approached him from behind and shot him in the hip and buttocks
4) 2:15 a.m., a 31-year-old man was walking near the intersection of St. Bernard Avenue and Villere Street when he heard shots fired. When he arrived home, he noticed he had been shot in the foot.

5)Earhart Boulevard and Joliet Street, Friday, 7 p.m. A man said he was in his vehicle about to leave work when a stranger walked up and asked for a fellow co-worker. When the man replied that his co-worker had already left, he told police the other man, about 20 years old and dressed completely in black, began firing at him and struck him once in the upper right arm.

6)Bienville Street, 1300 block, June 22, 8:45 a.m. An officer responding to a report of a robbery found a 31-year-old New Orleans man on his hands and knees bleeding from a stab wound to the chest.

We think we reported this already, but seriously, with all this shit, how can we be sure?
7)North Villere and Iberville streets, Friday, 2:19 a.m. A 44-year-old man said he was walking east on North Rampart Street when a stranger pulled up in a car and asked him whether he knew where to get crack cocaine. He said yes, and jumped in the car, which headed west toward Canal Street, and after some discussion, pulled into the Iberville public housing complex. The men surrounded the vehicle, and one pulled a pistol and tried to rob them. The other man, who was driving, tried to pull away safely, but one of the men fired at the vehicle and hit the victim in the back.

8)Royal and Toulouse streets, Tuesday, 2 a.m. A man was walking with his girlfriend in the French Quarter when they accidentally bumped into three men, who bumped her very roughly. The man confronted the three, one of whom pulled a gun from his waist and shot the man in the leg

9)North Villere Street, 2000 block, Saturday, 5:15 p.m. A man was shot while cutting his grass.

10) Shooting - Felicity Street, 600 block, Saturday, 2:22 p.m

11) Stabbing - Bourbon Street,200 block, Saturday, 3:35 a.m.

We have nothing to say, save, this:
There are two sides to this city, prey you don't find yourself on the wrong one

Fourth of July

it's not that we're of a sickly constitution, but every time we work inside this particular house in Treme, we get sick. Mold is for real folks, and lead paint, asbestos, and chemicals really do effect you mentally as well as physically. There's science to back it up.

The heat too, any body remember the sun in the "The Stranger"

Living in Metairie can also have an effect on your brain:
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office is investigating the stabbing death of an unidentified woman found this morning in the 200 block of Woodlawn Street in Metairie

BLOTTER!

Shootings:
9000 blk Edinburgh St. Mon 10:01 PM - 27 yearold man is shot while sitting in his car
9100 blk Dixon St. Sunday, 4:17 PM
Stabbings:
8200 blk Willow street Sunday 4:58 AM
2500 blk Dryades St. 5:46 AM

Always More To It

Doesn't it seem like there's more to a story like this than you'll ever know?

A pair of shootings Monday afternoon left one man in critical condition and another dead of a gunshot wounds that deputies believe were self-inflicted inside an Old Jefferson apartment as a deputy stood out front knocking.

This is the part though that gets us:

The deputy knocked at the door and identified himself, then heard a single gunshot from inside. Eventually a man opened the door, clearly suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. The man was pronounced dead later at University Hospital.

It's those Southern Manners. So ingrained that you just got to be polite, even if you have just shot yourself in the head.