x
Breaking News
More () »

Image of possible CBD shooting suspect out; Multiple factors played into slow response

Response time data shows that only two homicides in 2018 had slower response times, but there were factors that made this case unique.

NEW ORLEANS -- As 34-year-old May Francois was dying of a gunshot wound inside his car on a busy downtown New Orleans street at mid-day Tuesday, police initially thought they were responding to a traffic accident.

The way the call was dispatched was just one factor that caused the police response time to the homicide to be one of the slowest of year.

From the time the call was dispatched as “accident with injury” at 2:11 p.m. until the initial officer’s arrival, nine minutes passed, NOPD call logs show. The average response to all homicides in 2018 has been 3.8 minutes, the data shows.

“If he would have been responding to a shooting, I can assure you he would have gotten there faster,” Eighth District Commander Nicholas Gernon said. “He would have put his lights and sirens on. And he would not have gotten stuck in traffic around Canal and Bourbon Street.”

In this case, every minute was critical as three suspects who had been in the car with the Francois fled on foot. Two suspects ran river bound on Gravier Street near O’Keefe, police said, but a third escaped into adjacent parking garage.

That suspect ran up four floors of the garage on the vehicle ramp, an area well covered by security cameras. Eyewitness News obtained an exclusive image of the suspect as he bolted into the garage.

But with the slower-than-average police response, that suspect eventually ducked into a stairwell – an area without cameras – and somehow made his way down and out of the building.Once dozens of officers swarmed the scene and secured the building, a floor-by-floor SWAT clearance of the garage later came up empty.

Response time data shows that only two homicides in 2018 had slower response times, but there were factors that made this case unique, said former Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand.

“Knowing Chief Harrison I'm sure he's not happy with that number. I wouldn't be happy with that number. But there are anomalies,” Normand said. “Some folks would think in a tighter area with more buildings you might have a better shot at getting somebody. But no.”

“There's probably more ingresses and egresses and opportunities to escape with parking garages. Very difficult to search them,” Normand said. “Then, you have a lot of pedestrians out as well where they can just kind of meld into the public and move along.”

MORE: ‘Be the brave person that you were when you shot May and turn yourself in’

Eighth District Commander Nicholas Gernon said that while the area is heavily saturated by patrol officers, the downtown location hindered officers in several ways, starting with traffic.

“The officer who responded drove from the foot of Canal Street, but got bogged down by traffic,” Gernon said.

Gernon said that while the initial responding officer was driving to the scene, two more 9-1-1 calls came in to report a shooting. But, initially, nobody made the connection between the accident and the reports of gunfire.

“At some point while he was responding, somebody called and said there was gunfire in the area. Right? So he's already on his way and it was not clear that that was associated with this call,” Gernon said. “He's responding to a traffic accident. And he responded appropriately. And once he got there, he really ramped up the response.”

The fire department, which also is dispatched to accidents that involve injuries, was the first on the scene. As soon as the responding police officer arrived, he quickly realized the situation was far more serious and he immediately called for back-up, Gernon said.

Within minutes, dozens of officers, assisted by State Police Troopers, sealed off a couple of city blocks while they searched for the suspects.

But as the officers fanned out over a busy section of the CBD, they were hampered by the fact that they had no description of the suspects, Gernon said.

“It's not a desolate area,” he said. “So a couple of guys walking down the street would not have necessarily caused anyone to have any concern.”

The NOPD had no updates on the homicide investigation late Thursday, but detectives were checking security cameras from the parking garage and nearby buildings, according to multiple sources.

Before You Leave, Check This Out