NEW ORLEANS — Overcome with shock and grief, a wife became a widow Friday in Hollygrove.
New Orleans police say four people were shot on Belfast Street Friday afternoon. Two were taken to the hospital, and a man and a woman were shot dead.
Neighbors tell Eyewitness News at least one of them was not the intended target.
The bloodshed in New Orleans is up 74 percent from this time in 2019.
Dr. Peter Scharf, a criminologist and professor, says the blame falls somewhere between the hardships of this year and NOPD’s shying away from an intelligence-based strategy.
“What the hell happened?” Scharf said. “We changed our doctrine from a problematic solution, I’d say. The targeted policing, the intelligence led policing, to, I can’t figure out what the strategy is and I’ve been studying this for 40 years.”
Violent crime in New Orleans dramatically dipped during the stay at home order, but according to the City Council’s crime dashboard this summer was deadly.
The body count is outpacing the last three years – now up over 155 victims, with eight weeks left in 2020.
“We’ve got to look at, what are the success formulas where you’ve had sustained reduction in murder? And start figuring out which of those can be adapted to New Orleans,” Scharf said.
Meanwhile, in Hollygrove, evidence markers line the sidewalk.
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