NEW ORLEANS — Sanitation worker William Wooley was back on the job Sunday afternoon after another morning working in the French Quarter. This day though, was different.
“You working, and in the middle of working you hear gun shots and you are ducking for cover and you are trying to find somewhere to hide,” said Wooley. “You don’t know what is going on.”
Wooley was talking about the most recent officer-involved shooting. Wooley was working his normal shift at Bourbon and St. Louis.
“I turned my head and grab a trash can, getting ready to dump a can and next thing you hear is gunshots everywhere,” he said. “I saw the police pointing their guns and shooting. They were trying to tell him to get down, put down the weapon.”
Wooley said that with the bullets flying, he got out of the way to safety.
“Honestly, the sad thing is I’ve been working in the Quarters for about a year and a half, two years now. It’s almost like it’s normal at this point.”
Wooley said he hopes it’s the last shooting he sees. He says the violence in the city is painful on so many levels.
“It’s bad for tourists. It’s bad for families who want to bring your kids out. It almost makes you almost not even want to come out.”