Many witnessed a random shooting on Canal street, the major retail street that borders downtown New Orleans and the French Quarter, in the middle of the day in 1978. Some children, likely 8 to ten years old, were walking away from another group of children.
A boy in the following group called the boy in the front group "a p*ssy"--they were fighting over a hat--and the boy called a p*ssy turned around and shot the boy in the stomach. The victim died.
Around the same period of time, a tourist on Royal street--six blocks away in New Orleans' French Quarter--was held up at gunpoint for his money and fatally shot in the head. A witness to the bloody incident said the gunman--or "gunboy" since he was reportedly very young--was shaking so much, it was not even clear that he intended to shoot, maybe just threaten.
Soon after that, a guard at Quarter hotel only about two blocks away from the fatal tourist shooting was also shot in the head and died. Many times after that, tourists who had simply ventured a few blocks away from the lighted "nightlife" area of New Orleans' Quarter--where this morning's murders occurred--became gun violence victims.
In 1980, the shooting death of a police officer near the low-income Fischer Projects in Algiers led to a police raid in which four Black people were killed in crossfire. A civil rights protest against the New Orleans Police Department, citing racism and police brutality, followed.
Fifteen Years Later
Fifteen years later, gun violence New Orleans was still raging. In 2004, the rock musician Ray Davies, front man of the music group the Kinks, was approached by armed robbers while walking with his girlfriend on Burgundy, a street that borders the French Quarter. Many people were in town for the Sugar Bowl match between Louisiana State University and Oklahoma at the Superdome.
Davies said an armed mugger appeared and fired one round into the ground to show that the gun was loaded, then asking for all his money. When Davies refused, the mugger grabbed Davies' girlfriend and put the gun to her body, again demanding money. Davies complied. After ascertaining that the girl was okay, Davies pursued the mugger who turned and opened fire, hitting him with a bullet that went straight through his leg.
According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper, Davies' alleged assailant Kawan Johnson was never brought to trial but his cousin, Jerome Berra who drove the getaway car was charged twice. The case was dismissed twice because Davies failed to appear in court to testify (though he said he was notified of the trial only days before he was asked to appear and couldn't make the trip from London).
Many have worried that violence and terrorism would break out during New Orleans' massive yearly Mardi Gras celebrations which take place in late January and early February. Who knew the fears would be realized even sooner?
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