NEW ORLEANS — What police initially believed to be a fatal car crash turned into a homicide investigation early Saturday morning after a man who crashed into a utility poll in Central City was found with a bullet wound to his chest.
According to initial New Orleans Police Department reports, officers responded to calls that a gray car had slammed into a pole in the 2200 block of Amelia Street a little before 2 a.m. Saturday.
When officers arrived on the street, they found a man seriously injured in the driver's seat of a gray Chevrolet Camaro that had crashed into the wood utility pool, officials said.
He was pronounced dead on the scene. Shortly after, as officers continued to work the scene, they realized the man had a gunshot wound to his chest.
A homicide investigation was opened and few other details were immediately available from officials. Neither a name of a suspect nor a potential motive have been announced.
It wasn't immediately clear if the man was shot while he was driving or if he had gotten into the car already wounded.
On Tuesday, Orleans Parish Coroner Jason Melancon identified the victim as 18-year-old Dante Overton.
Police officials ask anyone with information call 504-658-5300 regarding this incident.
The overnight killing happened at almost exactly the same time as NOPD officers in the St. Claude neighborhood shot multiple times outside on Louisa Street. That man died in the hospital a short time later.