crime

River Garden concerns dominate NOPD Sixth District community meeting

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Concerns about violence and quality-of-life issues in the River Garden development dominated Wednesday night’s community meeting with the NOPD Sixth District leadership. These same issues will be the subject of a meeting at 6 p.m. tonight (Thursday, June 16) at the Sixth District station at 1930 Martin Luther King Boulevard, Commander Bob Bardy said. To read our live coverage of the meeting, click “Replay” in the box below. NOPD Sixth District community meeting

crime

Man and teenage accomplice arrested in Rousseau Street slaying

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A 20-year-old man and his 15-year-old accomplice have been charged with the murder of a man found shot to death in a car near the River Garden development, police said. Antoine Martin, 26, was driving on Rousseau Street with Rufus Bray in the passenger seat and the teenager in the backseat, when Bray abruptly shot Martin, said Lt. Troy Savage of the NOPD Sixth District investigative unit. The car crashed into the side of the road, and Bray and the teenager ran off, Savage said. Immediately after police were called to the scene, a resident informed police that the two from the crashed car had run back in the direction of Soraparu Street, Savage said. A Sixth District task force led by Sgt.

crime

Two in custody after man’s fatal shooting near River Garden community

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A 26-year-old man was gunned down near the River Garden neighborhood Sunday evening, but neighbors quickly helped police locate two suspects who were immediately taken into custody, police said. The victim, whose name has not been released, was found dead at the scene inside a vehicle in the 2100 block of Rousseau Street about 8 p.m. Sunday, police said. Neighborhood residents told police where to find people who were seen fleeing from the scene, and two suspects were captured and taken into custody for questioning by homicide investigators, police said. The shooting victim had a lengthy history of drug arrests and two gun charges, and was on both parole and probation, police said. Anyone who may have more information about this case should call homicide detective Andrew Packer at 658-5300 or, to leave an anonymous tip that could be eligible for cash reward, call CrimeStoppers at 822-1111.

blight and demolition

Freret corner store, film studio on Constance both win council approval

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A Freret corner store’s request for permission to sell alcohol and a proposal to allow conversion of a Lower Garden District warehouse into a film studio — two ideas that had drawn wary interest from their respective neighborhood groups — were both approved this week by the City Council. After finding strong opposition from some neighbors at earlier stages in the process, Supermercado Las Acacias on Freret Street appeared before the City Council on Thursday with the news that it had come to terms with the Freret Business and Property Owners Assocation and Neighbors United by way of a good-neighbor agreement. “We are all in consensus with the two neighborhood groups, however, the documents have not been executed,” said Morris Reed, an attorney representing building owner Cai Le. “They will be executed at a later date, probably Monday or Tuesday before the end of business.” Under the terms set by the City Council, Las Acacias will be able to sell alcohol as long as it is packaged for off-premises consumption.

crime

NOPD: Father of slain toddler now suspect in recent shootings

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The father of a toddler gunned down in a shootout after a Central City second-line last fall is now wanted in connection to a shooting that wounded a woman earlier this month, and police say he may have been involved in a spree of recent Uptown shootings from Gert Town to River Garden. Jeremy “Noonie Man” Williams, 21, is wanted on a warrant as a principal to attempted second degree murder in a March 18 shooting near Louisiana Avenue Parkway and South Broad, police said Thursday. Two women were walking on the sidewalk about 7:30 p.m., when someone in a black vehicle on the street began firing in their direction, said Sgt. Sandra Contreras of the NOPD Sixth District persons-crime unit. One of the women was shot in the back, but witnesses were able to give a strong enough description of the shooters that police were able to identify them, Contreras said.

crime

Drive-by shooting kills 1, injures 4, including a 3 month old in River Garden area

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One man was killed, and three other adults and a baby were wounded, in a drive-by shooting in the River Garden development in broad daylight Monday afternoon, police said. Three men were standing in a rear driveway in the 800 block of Felicity Street about 1:30 p.m. when an older-model Cadillac sedan approached and opened fire, police said. The ensuing volley of bullets struck all three men, as well as a 21-year-old woman and 3-month-old baby girl who were walking to a nearby store at the intersection of Chippewa and St. James, police said. Police arrived to a scene of carnage, they said: two men, ages 20 and 23, and the baby all gunned down in the driveway, with a semi-automatic weapon and drugs discarded near the 23-year-old.

crime

Monthly anti-crime marches in Milan, River Garden follow recent violence

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Two Uptown neighborhoods that have suffered from fatal violence in the last month, Milan and the River Garden development, will host the New Orleans Police Department’s monthly anti-crime marches starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The NOPD Second District march will begin at the Atkinson-Stern Tennis Center at 4025 S. Saratoga, where a group of Milan residents have begun meeting in an effort to reduce crime in the neighborhood. The march will pause at the intersection of Freret and Milan streets, where Mariah Woods was killed in a crash caused by a suspect fleeing police. The Sixth District march will begin at 503 St. Mary St.