NEW ORLEANS — The NOPD sent out a news release talking about clearing several violent crimes with recent arrests, but among those arrests, one, of an unidentified 15-year-old is a concerning picture of juvenile crime as it comes about two weeks after District Attorney Jason Williams announced a decision to try two juveniles as adults for a carjacking attempt that took the life of a young woman earlier this year.
In Monday night's arrest news release, police say they arrested a 15-year-old for an unspecified incident on June 6 and later determined that he was involved in several incidents in a 10-hour period between Saturday, June 5 and Sunday, June 6.
The incidents they attribute to the juvenile are:
- An armed robbery in the 4500 block of Michoud Boulevard
- A hit-and-run vehicle crash at the intersection of South Claiborne and Jackson avenues.
- A simple kidnapping of two 21-year-old females in the 2100 block of South Claiborne Avenue. The suspect demanded the victims drive him to a location in the Seventh District. Once they arrived, the juvenile reportedly robbed the victims of their cash and fled.
- An armed carjacking and aggravated battery by striking the victim with a gun in the head prior to taking his vehicle and fleeing the scene.
- An attempted armed carjacking in the 5800 block of Read Boulevard, where the juvenile was stopped by an armed security guard on the premises. The juvenile fled the scene on foot but was later apprehended by Seventh District officers without incident.
He was booked into the Juvenile Justice Center for three counts of armed robbery, two counts of simple kidnapping and one count each of aggravated battery and one count of armed carjacking.