NEW ORLEANS — Two men were fatally shot while riding in a car near Interstate 10 in New Orleans. The shooting caused the car he was in to veer through a fence onto the interstate where it crashed into another car.
Authorities say 21-year-old Johnell Hampton and 35-year-old Andrew Stiller were inside a black Dodge near the intersection of Bundy Road and North I-10 Service Road when they were shot. Their car then veered through a fence and onto I-10 where it crashed into a white Nissan.
Investigators say a woman inside the Nissan also suffered a gunshot wound and a 35-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman were critically injured in the crash. Hampton, Stiller, and the woman were rushed to the hospital. The two men later died from their injuries.
"He was just full of life and so vibrant," Hampton's grandfather John Banks-Morgan said. "He had his music dreams and goals and things set, and he was just really trying to find his way."
"At 21, like you said, is so young," Banks-Morgan said. "You never get an opportunity to experience anything."
As of last week, there have been five shootings on Interstate 10. On Wednesday, a 25-year-old man was shot several times while driving eastbound on I-10 near the Louisa Street exit.
In 2022, there were three homicides and four nonfatal shootings on I-10, according to the Metropolitan Crime Commission.
Banks-Morgan, who now lives in California, is now trying to come to terms with the loss of his grandson from thousands of miles away.
"This was a huge loss for me personally. This is a very huge loss," he said. "I lost the one and only grandson I had, which is a huge part of a man's legacy is his children, but for sure the boy."
Banks-Morgan said Hampton, who was known as Nell, was focusing on his music.
“He was very energetic and entrepreneurial, and was trying to make his way," Banks-Morgan said.
The grandfather said he travels home three times a year. His next trip will be for Hampton's funeral.
"I am going to miss him saying 'paw paw,'" he said.
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