Every One Hurts

As of March 1, 2007, there have been 29 murders in New Orleans this year. With 59 days in the year completed, that comes to an average of about one murder every other day. If that average stays the same all year, we will end 2007 with 182 murders. In a city of 200,000 people, that comes to a murder rate of 91 murders per 100,000 residents.

Those are numbers. These are people.

January – 17 murders.

February – 12 murders. 13 murders. [See update]

02/03/07 – 2 murders (one a child)

18) Someone flagged down police Saturday morning and led them to a man who had been shot dead in his Central City home, making him at least the 18th murder victim of the year in Orleans Parish.

Police found the body of Daniel Allen, 28, on the floor of his home in the 1900 block of Jackson Avenue shortly after 9 a.m., said Garry Flot, a police spokesman.

Allen, who had a gunshot wound to the head, was pronounced dead at the scene, which is between Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard and Danneel Street. Flot said police consider the case a homicide.

19) New Orleans, LA - Today, the New Orleans Police Department announced the arrest of 21-year-old George Lewis, a local male, and booked him with 2nd degree murder of his girlfriend’s two year-old daughter. The offense occurred yesterday at approximately 4:00 p.m,. in the 1400 block of South Lawn Street.

According to investigators, Fourth District officers received a call of a child with trauma to the body that died at Oschner Hospital.

The Orleans Parish Coroners autopsy revealed the child suffered internal and external trauma to the body as the cause of death. Detective Raymond Ambose, conducted an investigation and arrested George Lewis and booked him with 2nd degree murder.

02/04/07 – 1 murder, 1 shot

20) Two New Orleans residents were shot, one fatally, in a sport utility vehicle parked beside a large oak tree in front of a 7th Ward home Sunday minutes before sunrise.

Tamara Gabriel, 27, of Algiers, died later Sunday. She and a 22-year-old man were shot multiple times in the 2700 block of George "Nick" Connor Drive, formerly Havana Street, police spokesman Garry Flot said. The man drove the Porsche Cayenne to a hospital and "collapsed at the entrance to the hospital's emergency room," Flot said.

The man was reported in stable condition. Gabriel died Sunday at 4 p.m. at Touro Infirmary, said chief coroner's investigator John Gagliano, who released the identity. He said she had a gunshot wound to the head.

02/06/07 – 1 murder

21) A fistfight between two 17-year-old boys led one of the teen to kill the other one with a gun his mother gave him, police said Tuesday.

According to Sgt. Joe Narcisse, an NOPD spokesman, the shooting took place shortly after 7 p.m. near the intersection of Clio and Simon Bolivar streets, in Central City. The victim, a 17-year-old New Orleans boy, got into a fistfight with Clarence Johnson earlier in the evening, with both individuals walking away after the conflict.

Narcisse said Johnson went home and gave details of the fight to his mom, 44-year-old Vanessa Johnson. She gave her son a handgun and told him to get revenge because he had apparently lost the fight.

Johnson took the handgun, located the victim a short time later and fired several shots, striking him once in the stomach, Narcisse said. The victim was rushed to Elmwood Medical Center, where he later died.

02/11/07 – 1 murder

22) Members of the New Orleans Police Department are investigating the shooting death of Michael Dunbar a 43-year-old local male. The incident occurred at 3420 Indiana Street in Algiers at approximately 8:43 p.m.

According to investigators, Fourth District officers responded to a call of a “male shot” inside of a home. When officers arrived, they found the victim suffering from a gunshot wound to the body. Emergency medical technicians arrived on the scene and pronounced him dead.

02/15/07 – 2 murders

23) and 24) Two men were shot to death and a third critically wounded shortly inside a park car in the 9th Ward shortly before 6:30 p.m. Thursday, police said.

The names of the two men killed were not known to police. Police were able to interview the wounded man but did not release his name.

Fifth District officers responded to reports of a shooting and found the three men inside a sedan with Texas license plates in the 1000 block of Kentucky Street, near the Industrial Canal in the 9th Ward.

The men in the front passenger seat and the rear seat were dead on the scene. The wounded man was behind the wheel. He was taken to a local hospital, said officer Sabrina Richardson, NOPD public information officer.

02/16/07 – 1 murder, victim died on 02/17/07

25) One of six people wounded in a shooting rampage in a Mid-City bar early Friday died Saturday, the Orleans Parish coroner's office said.

Alden Wright, 20, of New Orleans, died at 11:40 a.m. at the Charity Hospital trauma unit at Elmwood Medical Center, chief coroner's investigator John Gagliano said.

02/20/07 – 1 murder, 2 shot

26) Around 9 p.m. Tuesday, police responded to shots fired in the 900 block of North Claiborne Avenue, near Dumaine Street, police said. Officers found a man with mutliple gunshot wounds lying on a wooden platform underneath Interstate 10. Investigators also discovered two handguns in the unidentified man’s possession. The victim was transported to a local hospital in critical condition and later died, police said.

02/21/07 – 2 murders

27) A 40-year-old New Orleans man was fatally shot early Wednesday in the Gert Town neighborhood, in the third shooting in less than 12 hours.

Several unrelated violent incidents, including a stabbing, marked the end of what had been a relatively low-crime Mardi Gras. Two of the shootings and the stabbing happened late on Fat Tuesday. By Wednesday morning, three people were dead, and two others, were seriously injured, police said.

Most recently, police discovered the 40-year-old man lying on the ground in the 7900 block of Olive Street with multiple gunshot wounds, police said. The man was pronounced dead around 7 a.m., shortly after officers arrived.

28) In broad daylight Wednesday afternoon, a 33-year-old man was fatally shot in an eastern New Orleans street, behind a row of one-story brick houses. The man, whose identity has not been released, was shot at 1 p.m. in the 14000 block of Morrison Road, police said. Officers found the man in the street, shot several times.

The man fell in the middle of the two-lane street that runs along a canal, between a murky brown puddle and the yellow dotted line.

02/25/07 – 1 murder

29) New Orleans authorities have released the identity of a man who was shot to death Sunday night in eastern New Orleans.

Lionel Ware III, 23, of New Orleans, was shot about 8:25 p.m. in the 14700 block of Curran Road, near Bass Street. Ware died in the middle of the roadway several blocks southwest of Paris Road and Lake Pontchartrain, said Garry Flot, a police public information officer.

An autopsy showed Ware suffered multiple gunshot wounds, chief coroner's investigator John Gagliano said.

UPDATE: 02/27/07 – 1 murder, victim died on 03/25/07

30) February shooting victim dies; Sunday shooting near Fair Grounds
A New Orleans shooting victim died Sunday, nearly a month after he suffered mltiple wounds in the Hollygrove neighborhood, the Orleans Parish coroner’s office said.

Aaron Allen, 43, was shot on Feb. 27 about 7:30 a.m. at Hollygrove and Oleander streets, chief coroner’s investigator John Gagliano said. An autopsy will be performed today.