NEW ORLEANS —
A deadly shooting that killed a 45-year-old in the St. Claude neighborhood has those living in the area concerned.
Police got a call around 12:30 p.m. Sunday about a man lying in the street along the 1700 block of Desire Street. When police arrived they discovered the man had multiple gunshot wounds. He died at the scene.
Police said the investigation into the death is ongoing and did not release many details into the incident as of Monday.
“I had just come home from church, sitting back getting dinner together,” said one neighbor who asked not be identified.
“What did you hear,” asked WWLTV’s Paul Dudley.
“Bang, bang, bang, bang,” said the man. “He must have been walking when he got shot because he was on the street and right there you can’t walk on the sidewalk.”
In the St. Claude neighborhood Monday, many were surprised by how blatant this shooting was.
“How would you describe the neighborhood,” asked Dudley to another neighbor named Wanda Harris.
“It is a very quiet neighborhood,” said Harris. “This area is very very quiet.”
“It’s nice, everyone is friendly,” said another neighbor and area worker named Eric Banegas.
And yet another neighbor named Walter Tardy said, “We haven’t had anything happen since we had the incident with the park shooting.”
By ‘“park shooting,” Tardy is referring to the November 22, 2015 mass shooting that happened at nearby Bunny Friend Park. 17 people were hurt. Ten suspects were convicted in connection to the shooting.
“It’s just so sad but today we are living in those days where it’s becoming common for stuff like that to take place,” said neighbor Donald Jolly.
In another incident, a memorial sits for a 40-year-old named Michael who was shot and killed in 2017 directly across from Jolly’s family home on North Robertson Street.
“Came out to witness a guy lying on the corner shot multiple times. It was a really bad moment,” said Jolly.
The most recent shooting on Desire Street has neighbors concerned but many believe it’s only a handful of bad eggs behind the violence.
“It’s kind of puts a damper on the community if there are any crime related incidents taking place when it’s only a few people,” said Jolly. “So you get rid of those and things are back to normal.”
The victim’s name has not been released yet but police say it should be made public on Tuesday.