NEW ORLEANS — Surveillance video shows someone steal a car near the Broadmoore neighborhood moments after a 5-year-old got out to walk inside. It happened around 3:15 in the afternoon Tuesday along Vendome Pl.
In a surveillance video from a neighbor, you see Paula Trew's white SUV parked in front of her son and daughter-in-law's home after she picked up their 5-year-old daughter, her granddaughter, from school. She is seen walking behind the car, opening her granddaughter's door, then walking to shut a gate. The car was not on, but her belongings were still inside. As her granddaughter follows behind her, the video shows a red SUV passing the car, then back up 10 seconds later. Someone is seen getting out, crouching down, getting into the vehicle, then driving off. It happened within a minute along a busy street.
"You'd never think with this much traffic something like this would happen," Trew said.
"I have been upset about the increasing crime in New Orleans, very upset about it, but now I take it personally because now it involves my 5-year-old child who is now anxious because of what she witnessed yesterday," said Kathryn Trew, Paula Trew's daughter-in-law.
"She's terrified, she told her mom, 'can we please move someplace they don’t steal cars,'" Paula Trew said about her granddaughter.
One of the biggest heartbreaks for this family is that the child's stuffed bunny she brought to school for show and tell was still in the stolen car.
"I literally didn’t scream, 'car,' I was screaming 'Katty bunny! Katty bunny!'" Paula Trew shouted for the bunny.
Her granddaughter has had the bunny since she was born. It was a gift from her grandfather, Paula Trew's husband, who passed away four months ago.
"She sleeps with it every night. If she's upset, scared, whatever, she wants Katty bunny and since Dave died, it’s a comfort to her and she literally can't go to sleep without it," Paula Trew said.
"We need our leaders to really step it up," Katheryn Trew said. "I will say I am considering now moving, so we'll have to see."
Wednesday, the United State's Attorney for the New Orleans area announced a new enhanced effort to target the most violent offenders. They plan to use surveillance techniques, camera monitoring in real time, license plate readers, and assist the District Attorney's office to crack down on crime
"Our goal if we do everything right is to identify the worst of the worst in specific areas of Orleans Parish and identify those same individuals that commit the majority of crimes in a specific district or area," said Duane Evans, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
The family said NOPD showed up within an hour to take a report. So far the car has not been found.