What's Going On?

As of April 1, 2007, there have been 48 murders in New Orleans this year. With 90 days in the year completed, that comes to an average of one murder every 1.875 days – basically, a murder every other day. If that average stays the same all year, we will end 2007 with 194 murders. In a city of 223,000 people, that comes to a murder rate of 87 murders per 100,000 residents.

The NOPD released their 2006 crime statistics. The headline: “Cops say violent crime fell 22%.” The NOPD is comparing 2005 stats, when the city was evacuated for much of the last half of the year, and 2006 stats, when citizens were slowly moving back throughout the year.

NOPD spokesman Sgt. Joe Narcisse on how Katrina affected the crime stats:

"It is what it is," he said. "We may be able to (attribute) some of the reduction to Katrina."

Yeah, maybe.

In the first quarter of 2005 (Jan-Feb-Mar), there were 65 murders. In the first quarter of 2006, there were 17 murders. Maybe – just maybe – the NOPD can attribute some of that reduction to Katrina.

In the first quarter of 2007, there were 48 murders. Compared to 17 murders last year during the same period, that’s a large increase. I guess, if we think like the NOPD, maybe – just maybe – we can attribute some of that increase to the absence of a Katrina-like event. April fools.

Not an April fool:

January – 17 murders.

February – 13 murders.

March – 18 murders.

03/02/07 – 1 murder, victim died 03/17/07

31) In an unrelated case, a man shot on March 2 near Canal Street and North Claiborne Avenue died Saturday at University Hospital, Gagliano said.

Josh Rodrique was found in the 2000 block of Iberville Street, near North Prieur street, on March 2 shortly before 7 p.m., police said. He had been shot once in the neck, police and the coroner's office said.

03/03/07 – 1 murder

32) Tonight, members of the New Orleans Police Department are investigating the shooting death of a local male, whose identity is being withheld pending notification of family members. The offense occurred shortly before 11:00 p.m., in the 1100 block of North Prieur Street.

According to investigators, First District officers responded to a call of “ shots fired” and, upon their arrival, found the victim lying in the street suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to his head and body. Emergency medical technicians arrived on the scene and pronounced the victim dead.

03/04/07 – 2 murders

33) A lover's spat turned deadly early Sunday in the Lower Garden District when a 43-year-old woman fatally plunged a kitchen knife into her boyfriend's chest, police said.

Yolanda Anderson stabbed her live-in boyfriend shortly after 12:30 a.m. in the 1800 block of Chippewa Street, police said.

Byron Love, 46, was pronounced dead upon arrival at University Hospital, said John Gagliano, chief investigator for the Orleans Parish coroner's office. He died from a stab wound to the chest.

34) A man was shot and killed Sunday night in Central City, New Orleans police said.

The shooting happened about 9:05 p.m. in the 1400 block of Magnolia Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Thalia Street, in the area of the Guste public housing complex.

03/05/07 – 1 murder

35) A security guard at a FEMA trailer park was shot to death Monday in the latest violence to wrack the city still struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina, police said.

The shooting, around 5:15 a.m., was at a trailer park in Gentilly, a section of the city that flooded during Katrina. A few hours earlier, another man was shot and killed near the Guste public housing complex.

03/09/07 – 1 murder

36) A 25-year-old man identified by relatives as Kevin Pham was shot dead inside his family's house in the 1300 block of N. Lemans Street.
Police responded the the shooting in the Village D'lest neighborhood in eastern New Orleans shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday. The victim died at the scene. His car was in the driveway, still running, with hazard lights on.

03/10/07 – 3 murders

37) A 22-year-old woman was shot to death in Treme early Saturday and her 25-year-old friend wounded in the ankle, according to New Orleans police.
The double shooting took place just after 5 a.m. at the intersection of Gov. Nicholls and North Roman streets while the couple was walking, said New Orleans Police Department spokesman Sgt. Joe Narcisse.

38) Around 11 a.m., police received word of a shooting in the 7800 block of Venice Blvd, Narcisse said. Seventh District Officers found the victim lying in the street with gunshot wounds to his head and arm. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

39) The latest murder occurred in Mid-City, near the intersection of Esplanade Avenue and Columbus Street, shortly after 2 p.m., according to Joe Narcisse, an NOPD spokesman. A 23-year-old man was killed at that location. Police found shell casings covering a two block area and an AK-47.

03/18/07 – 1 murder

40) A man shot several times Sunday afternoon in a yard in the 9th Ward died about six hours later at a hospital, the Orleans Parish coroner's office said Monday night.

Sean Robinson, 31, was shot shortly before 4 p.m. in a yard next to a house in the 1200 block of Piety Street, police said.

03/24/07 – 1 murder

41) A New Orleans teenager was killed during a drive-by shooting early Saturday that left three other people wounded, New Orleans police said.
Larry Ramee III, 16, died at North Broad Street and Orleans Avenue from gunshot wounds, chief coroner's investigator John Gagliano said.

03/25/07 – 2 murders, (02/27/07 victim dies)

42) In the other case, Warren Simpson, 22, who recently returned to New Orleans from Houston, was shot along with a second man Sunday about 6 p.m. in the 1500 block of North Roman Street in the 7th Ward.

Simpson was sitting in the passenger side of a car when another man approached and shot Simpson and a man standing nearby.

Simpson got out of the car and ran a few steps before dying between Laharpe and Lapeyrouse streets.

43) Antoine Williams, 17, of New Orleans was found shot to death Sunday about 7 p.m. in a vacant residence in Central City, New Orleans police said.

Police said they were called about a "male down" in a house and found Williams shot in the head at 2510 Freret St. Williams was not supposed to be in the house, which is between Second and Third streets, police said.

03/26/07 – 1 murder

44) A New Orleans man shot in the drive-through of an Algiers fastfood business Monday died Tuesday morning from his wounds, New Orleans Police said.

Terry Despenza, 23, died at local hospital after receiving several gunshot wounds to the body while he waiting at a McDonalds near the intersection of General DeGaulle and Cypress Acres drives.

03/27/07 – 1 murder

45) A 31-year-old New Orleans man was fatally shot late Tuesday night in eastern New Orleans, police said.

A National Guard unit on patrol around 11:10 p.m. discovered a red Dodge Charger in a wooded area in the 7800 block of Paris Road, according to a news release from the New Orleans Police Department.

Inside the vehicle, the guardsmen found a man slumped over with a gunshot wound to the body, police said.

03/28/07 – 1 murder

46) A 32-year-old Algiers man was killed at his home Wednesday afternoon and New Orleans police were questioning a man they believe might have been involved.

Travis Johnson, of 1644 Shirley Drive, died at a hospital after being shot once in the face with a handgun shortly before 11:30 a.m. Capt. D.J. Kirsch, commander of the New Orleans Police Department's Fourth District, said that Johnson was the third homicide in Algiers this year.

03/31/07 – 2 murders

47) A 21-year-old New Orleans man was gunned down overnight in the 6000 block of Chef Menteur Highway, police said.

Seventh District officers found the unidentified man riddled with bullets, including one to the head, inside a blue Chevrolet Tahoe, shortly before 3 a.m. The victim was pronounced dead on the scene.

48) Fourth District officers were called about 7 p.m. to the 1100 block of Horace Street in Algiers, where they found the teenager lying dead on a lawn from gunshot wounds to the body.

Here's a map of the 2007 murders:


What’s going on in that corner of New Orleans East?

I mean, what's going on?

UPDATE: NOLA-dishu's detailed crime maps.