NEW ORLEANS — According to the Metropolitan Crime Commission, there've been eight mass shootings across the city so far this year, 13 people killed in those incidents. They include incidents with three or more shooting victims.
According to NOPD, Saturday night a 31-year-old mother and a 17-year-old boy were killed. A 20-year-old and a 13-year-old were injured. The mother was found a few blocks away on Downman Road. Police believe she was shot in the car. The family identified the woman as Ronnisha Anderson.
According to NOPD, the young mother was gunned down with her two-month-old baby in the backseat at the 6000 block of Beechcraft Street.
Rafael Goyeneche with MCC says social media is playing a big part in retaliatory violence and could have played a part in the weekend's shooting. He says it's called message murders, and it's fueling violence.
"When individuals start to post and boast about the fact that they shot somebody or killed somebody that's intended to send a message to victims and witnesses, if you say anything or you do anything there's going to be a price to pay, which makes it harder for the police to identify who's responsible for this and bring these people to justice," Goyeneche said.
Goyeneche says his team discovered pictures posted online showing young people holding guns.
"If the family is aware that someone is posting online claiming credit... there's a real potential will identify the person responsible for this and will go out and target them," he told Eyewitness News.
He says with NOPD's resources at minimal and no help the violence could get worse.
"Every one of these cases that remains unsolved increases the potential for the shooters to go out and continue to do what they just did or the victims retaliate against the people they believe were responsible."
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