NEW ORLEANS — Alvin Phoenix has a bullet hole in the side of his Avenue L home in Marrero. It’s from a shooting that left his nine-year-old grandson, Brandon Gray, with a bullet wound in his leg.
“It’s crazy,” Phoenix said sitting on his front porch Tuesday morning. “It’s crazy.”
The shooting happened around 7:30 Monday evening. Phoenix said his daughter and grandson just got home from the store.
As they were getting out of the car, someone started shooting. Phoenix was about two blocks away. He got home to find his grandson on the ground.
“He never saw it coming. When it happened, he was just crying because he didn’t know what had happened, but he knew he was shot,” Phoenix said.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto said it all steams for a possible attempted car burglary nearby.
“One of the neighbors noticed somebody walking down the street, lifted up a door handle on a vehicle across the street from them,” Lopinto said.
Instead of calling 911, the sheriff says that the neighbor and another one went after the suspect.
“The guy [suspect] started taking off running. Those two [neighbors] chased after him for a short period of time where the suspect turned round with a firearm and started shooting back at them,” Lopinto said.
The sheriff said a handful of shots were fired. Gray was the only one shot. He was taken to Children’s Hospital in New Orleans and expected to be released Tuesday afternoon.
“I felt like taking the law in my own hands. I’m going to say that,” Phoenix said. “I felt like taking the law in my own hands after that because it’s like it’s too much.”
Phoenix says his street is typically quiet. The sheriff calls this an isolated shooting and wishes someone would have called authorities before going after a suspect.
While car burglaries aren’t common in Phoenix’s neighborhood, the sheriff knows they can happen anywhere.
“I want us to have zero car burglaries. That’s not the case. Weekly I’m getting an email that we’ve had a car burglary in this neighborhood or a group of car burglaries in this neighborhood,” Phoenix said.
Sitting on his porch, Phoenix and his other grandson are still in disbelief, but thankful no one was killed.
“It’s messed up. It’s got me messed up,” Phoenix said.
As of Tuesday evening, investigators were working several leads in this case but no arrests have been made. Anyone with information is asked to call the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.