NEW ORLEANS — Five days after her brother jumped over a neighbor's gate and was shot dead, Deatrice Coleman is struggling to understand why he had to die.
Coleman spoke with our partners at the Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate, telling reporter Ramon Vargas that her brother posed no threat to their neighbor and there was no indication that he was armed.
“We don’t feel it was justified,” she said. “He watched my brother jump the fence and then just shot him from the second floor.”
That shooting happened outside a home in the 2800 block of Paris Avenue on Saturday, Oct. 23.
The homeowner, 69-year-old Philip Cooper, told the Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate that he's the one who shot Coleman. He said there was a recent burglary at his home, which has been under renovation, and he felt like he had no choice but to shoot.
“It was an unfortunate incident,” Cooper said to the the Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate on Monday. “I really didn’t want to shoot anybody — but this guy kind of forced me. He was a habitual offender — he kept coming back every night.”
Cooper has not been arrested or charged with a crime.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
