NEW ORLEANS — New information gives us a deeper insight into a fatal shooting that claimed the life of Dajuan Wells, 14, Monday afternoon on Chef Menteur Highway. The New Orleans Police Department now says the incident first started on Chef and Downman, but they say they found the boy a mile away on Chef and Louisa Drive.
That means they would have had to cross the canal, likely via the Highrise or the Danziger. Surveillance video WWL obtained Monday then picks up the incident on Louisa. The car is seen driving with the passenger door open. A girl then jumps out of the car while it's still moving. A girl is then running through a parking lot, shouting for help.
Multiple gunshots can be heard in the video, and moments later, a young woman is seen running across the Empire Xpress store parking lot, screaming for help.
“Call 911. My brother just got shot,” the young woman says inside the store.
Jadalleh Saed runs the store and was there when the teenager ran inside.
“We called 9-11 a couple of times. I went to the car, he was already…we can’t do anything he got shot multiple times,” Saed said.
WWL Louisiana has contacted NOPD and asked multiple questions about the incident. While information has been limited, it has been confirmed that Wells was a student at NOLA Public Schools. Superintendent Dr. Avis Williams offered her condolences to the family and said the community must wrap their arms around the children as one kid lost to gun violence is one too many.
"It’s too many it’s entirely too many I can’t emphasize enough how we as adults and leaders have a responsibility to keep them safe," Dr. Williams said.
According to Jadalleh, he saw another victim — a man shot in his neck.
“We tried to call the ambulance and the district. They took like 10 to 15 minutes, so he had to go with someone to the hospital,” Saed explained.
The New Orleans Police Department has yet to confirm a second victim.
Another woman at the scene on Monday told us she was scheduled to work in the area about the time of the shooting but was held up. “Everything was taped off. I couldn’t go any further, and then to find out it was a baby, its heartbreaking,” she said.
Saed told us he’s concerned about the 9-1-1 response time.
“We've been having that same issue for a couple of years, and it's started getting worse and worse. Sometimes I don’t want to say nothing because it’s not going to change,” Jadalleh said.
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