METAIRIE, La. — A 20-year-old from New Orleans has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder for reportedly cutting in line at a gas station in Metairie and fatally shooting the person who confronted him about it.
The shooting happened at the Chevron gas station on Clearview Parkway near I-10 Service Road. Dwayne Nosacka of Metairie died from his injuries.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto said at a press conference Saturday that the suspect, identified as Walter Sippio, turned himself in with the weapon used in the shooting at around 9 p.m. Friday. He is currently in jail with a second-degree murder charge and has a bond of $500,000.
According to the sheriff, the suspect cut in line. When he was confronted by the 36-year-old who had been waiting for gas in the long line, he walked back to his car and grabbed a gun.
Lopinto said investigators heard from witnesses that the 36-year-old victim threw up his hands when the other man returned with the firearm, as if to say "are you going to shoot me?"
The suspect then allegedly shot him, fatally wounding him.
Witnesses drove after Sippio and followed him down the service road before losing him on Interstate 10.
Lopinto said the alleged shooter tried to claim self-defense, but the sheriff said that there were no signs of a physical argument between the two men.
He told reporters, “Nobody needed to die over frickin’ gas today."
"If you need gas, be patient and wait in line just like everyone else," the sheriff said. "We’re better than this and can be better than this."
Lopinto added that after the shooting, people kept pumping gas while the victim laid dead on the ground.
Lopinto said that most of the calls made to the sheriff's office the past few days have been related to arguments happening at gas stations.
"I’m asking everybody to calm down," Lopinto said. "Things will get better very quickly in Jefferson Parish."
Lopinto credited his sheriff's office's resources for being able to make quick headway in the case.
He said that the sheriff's office started with a grainy picture of the suspect's vehicle. The digital forensics unit took that grainy picture and was able to convert it to "live mode" and create a three-second video of it pulling out of the parking lot. The digital forensics unit was then able to get the license plate and found the vehicle on Google Earth at a house in New Orleans.
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