NEW ORLEANS — A stunning video caught on surveillance camera put on display the type of brazen crime that has been reported on New Orleans’ streets in recent months.
The New Orleans Police Department said the shooting happened around 4:53 p.m. in the 3800 block of Elysian Fields Avenue. Police say while traffic was stopped, three individuals got out of a red colored car and began shooting at a pickup truck as it passed through traffic.
One person was struck several times and was driven to a hospital for treatment. As of Tuesday morning there was no report on that individual's condition. The three suspects then got back into their car and drove away.
The video was captured by security cameras at the Hamilton Lewis law firm.
"I heard what sounded like firecrackers going off," Attorney Peter Hamilton Jr. said. “By the time I came out here I noticed all the shell casings here on Elysian Fields."
The incident occurred during heavy rush hour traffic near Elysian Fields, a few blocks from Gentilly Boulevard.
Hamilton says he hopes something is done soon as he feels crime closing in all around him. However, he encourages people to try and make peace with the idea that the solution may not be a quick fix
“I think we need to do a better job of providing assistance to families that need help," he said. "It may take 10 years to solve the problem but policing alone is not going to solve the problem.”
Hamilton also points to a not only lack of opportunity for young people in the City of New Orleans, but a lack of a future to aspire for.
“That’s because they don’t have the role models. They don’t see the Black attorneys. They don’t see the Black architects. They don’t see the Black engineers and I think we just need to do an overall better job of that in America, not just New Orleans," Hamilton said.
So far in 2022 the city has experienced a jump in carjackings and recently there have been two children who were killed, one when shots were fired into a vehicle on the west bank in Algiers. Just a week ago a woman driving on I-10 with her daughter in the car was killed as shots rang out into her car.
And according to officials with the mayor’s office, Mayor LaToya Cantrell will soon be addressing the matter.
“This Thursday at 1 o’clock, Thursday the 27th, Mayor Cantrell and chief will be at NOPD headquarters to speak specifically about crime, public safety and NOPD work and response in the criminal justice system,” City spokesman Beau Tidwell said.
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