NEW ORLEANS — A mother is dead and her husband is the suspect in what a family member described as a hostage situation that turned into an alleged murder-suicide.
It happened at about 6:51 a.m. in the 1230 block of Monroe Street in the Leonidas neighborhood but NOPD did not confirm until 8:04 a.m. according to a police report.
The Orleans Parish Coroner's Office later identified the victims as Raymond Cooper, 45, and Felicia Cooper, 40.
"We learned what happened. We were told it could possibly be a murder-suicide," said Hans Ganthier NOPD Deputy Superintendent."
He said family members approached him with some concerns while he was on the scene. Family members of the victims asked him why the NOPD took over an hour to respond.
"We have opened up a PIB, formal disciplinary investigation on this only to let the family know what happened but also make sure officers are held accountable."
The department said it will investigate its police response time. They said they are opening an investigation into the issue, starting from when the call was made to when officers responded.
NOPD Superintendent, Anne Kirkpatrick, said "We do take all of these situations of domestic violence very seriously."
A relative told WWL Louisiana they were calling NOPD for hours with no response but then had to call the New Orleans Fire Department to report smoke to get someone to respond.
"But this was about 7:13, no police came out, they may call new members for time since 4 a.m. And the daughter even ran a Tulane campus to try to get help," the relative said. "And they were no help. So, we had to call the fire department to tell them, just, we smell smoke for them to come out. And that is when you saw the police come out.”
Kirkpatrick claimed an officer did try to go into the house after an earlier call was made, but said she could not give further details.
Both victims were pronounced dead on the scene by EMS.
Few details are available at this time as the investigation is ongoing. Stay with WWL Louisiana for the latest information on this developing story.
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