NEW ORLEANS — Five days after Mayor Latoya Cantrell said women are also involved in violent crimes in our city, she said she apologizes for offending the families of crime victims.
“None of these acts are random at all and what we have to understand that women also play a role in violent activity in our city,” Mayor Cantrell had said on May 12.
Those initial comments came hours after three women had been shot and killed in two separate incidents across the city.
28-year-old Asia Davis was gunned down Thursday, May 11 at the intersection of Mayor Boulevard and the I-10 Service road. Less than 24 hours later, Ja’Diamond Jones and Imani Williams, both 20, were killed outside a hookah lounge on North Claiborne.
Five days after her initial comments, Mayor Cantrell backtracked.
“I’m a woman, I’m a Black woman and a part of this community and I have a child as well that’s a woman, so forgive me,” Cantrell said Wednesday.
She says she spoke directly to the victims’ family members and apologized. She said the conversation was humbling, and according to her, they forgave her.
“I was able to have a healthy dialogue and then having been told I was forgiven, there’s power in that on both sides with the family having better understanding and appreciation for them and their family and loved ones, but also the exchange for them respecting my point of view as well,” Cantrell said.
At least two of the families who lost loved ones in what would have been the time frame of Mayor Cantrell’s comments, say they have not spoken with her. Davis’ family says there has been no call whatsoever. Jones’ father tells WWLTV he, nor Jones’ mother have either, but says “If she wants to speak to me, she can have my number.”
We asked the Mayor’s office if they can specify which families they spoke with, but they said they did not want to go into more specifics.
While Cantrell stood firm in her apology, she also stood firm in some of her previous comments. She says she should not have lumped all incidents together, but says women have been involved in violent crime across the city.
“As I talk from the investigative standpoint that we’re seeing again young women are increasingly associating themselves with people that are involved in illegal or criminal activity,” she said Wednesday.
An arrest has been made in connection to the killing of Asia Davis, according to the NOPD.
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