NEW ORLEANS — With 201 murders in the books for 2021, the City of New Orleans has equaled its murder total from 2020.
Number 200 happened in the 9th ward around 2:30 in the afternoon.
Number 201 less than a half-hour later uptown on Josephine a block off of St Charles.
Police say a 29-year-old man was shot and died after being transported to the hospital.
According to eyewitnesses, some of which who were working at the time, a vehicle pulled up to wait on the man to come out to the street from the building where he was working.
They say multiple people jumped out of the vehicle wearing hoods and masks and gunned the man down.
The initial call came into NOPD right around 3:00 p.m. and police showed up at the scene 20 minutes later.
A woman who works across the street says she heard the whole thing happen.
“It’s just 12 gunshots that were so loud that I thought it was happening in our building,” says Musa Alves.
Thursday at the Crime a commission luncheon, we spoke with NOPD Chief Shawn Ferguson who says even with murders being up 5%, citizens shouldn’t be too alarmed.
“This is again not anything unique to New Orleans or the Metropolitan area this is something. That is occurring across the country”
Be that as it may, residents who live around the area say this is not at all commonplace.
Antoinette Streczyn-Batista who was riding her bike past the crime scene says this does not happen here in this part of town. It’s like all over New Orleans now, like right at my front door.”
Will the city eclipse last year's murder numbers? Only time will tell.