NEW ORLEANS — People are seeing brazen, violent crimes in numbers and areas they have not seen before.
Many say they are living in fear and want something done.
In an Uptown neighborhood last week, two cars chased each other firing what sounded like more than 30 bullets. Several neighbors agreed to talk about how it made them feel, but they didn't want to show their faces, give their names, or the identity of the neighborhood.
Here's the story of fear in their own words.
“I'm tired of it. It's got to stop. I shouldn't be getting videos from my friends and family and saying, 'Hey, look what happened tonight. We had to get on the floor and crawl in the hallway.'”
“This is a bullet hole here (in the car door.) We heard the gunshots and it woke me up and I jumped up, and the next thing, you know, I saw flashing lights that was the police out. I was devastated. I got real, real nervous and angry because it could have been worse than that.”
“It just kept going and going and going and I just I froze in the bed. It took me a while to go back to sleep because it disturbed me.”
“Just a cacophony of violent intent erupts right outside your door. It's really scary.”
“I’m walking my dogs right now, but I would never do that after dark at this point, although the really scary thing is a lot of this crime is taking place in broad daylight. I also carry mace with me when I walk and that's just not really who I am. It makes me worried for myself and for all my neighbors, but there's also a beautiful sense of community. I think it's increased the way that we are reaching out to one another.”
“What is it going to take for this city to do something? What is it going to take for them to come down harder on the criminals or stop letting them out? The police are underfunded. They are overworked. They're underpaid.”
“The crime is getting really bad and they need to do something about it, and they don't have enough police. Pay the people. Pay the people, so they won't be leaving here.”
“My answer is we need to pray. People are too troubled right now, and don't value people's lives.”
“Today it was cars, and houses tomorrow it will be our families.”
We have contacted the NOPD to find out more information on this investigation. We will pass it on when we know more.