NEW ORLEANS — The 21-year-old Kenner man who was injured during a shootout with police officers Saturday morning in the French Quarter allegedly pointed the gun at the back of the head of one stranger on the street and even pulled the trigger when he was aiming at two others, but the gun didn’t go off, according to documents obtained by our partners at the New Orleans Advocate/Times–Picayune.
The incident began when Austin Bental started pointing a gun at people in the area of Bourbon and St. Louis streets, the document said. Bental pulled the trigger five times while aiming at two people, but the gun didn’t go off.
The victims said they recalled hearing a click before running off. The report also said Bentel put the muzzle of the gun to the back of another man's head, Bental saying he would “shoot the (expletive) out of him.”
Like the others, this man was able to get away uninjured.
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When officers arrived, the reports said Bental raised the gun in a “threatening manner” towards at least one officer and “attempted to shoot the officer.”
That's when officers fired at Bentel, hitting him in the chest. He was taken to the hospital, where he was listed in critical condition Saturday morning.
Bental apparently visited at least two bars just prior to pointing the gun at people on the street, the report said. Police also recovered a live round believed to be ejected from Bental’s gun.
On Monday, our partners at the paper got a chance to speak with Bentel’s mother, Elizabeth Runnels.
She told the paper her son has been “very depressed” since his father died in May. She said she understood he had been drinking heavily after getting off work late Friday or early Saturday, and he became upset while speaking with a companion about his dad's death, the paper reported.
One of Sidney Torres's employees witnessed the broad daylight shooting. Monday, Torres, head of Torres Enterprise LLC, was understandably frustrated.
“Between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. is when the last few shootings have happened,” said Torres speaking to WWLTV’s Paul Dudley. In three weeks, we have had five shootings and two stabbings.”
Torres is now calling on city leaders to do something about the violence.
“We don’t need to be walking down the street looking behind our backs,” said Torres. “We need to make sure our city has us protected and that our tax dollars are going to good protection.”
The officers who shot at Bental were placed on desk duty until further notice.
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