NEW ORLEANS — “It makes me sad, it makes me angry, and it makes me frustrated,” Attorney General Liz Murrill said.
State and local leader leaders are demanding answers after 43-year-old French Quarter tour guide Kristie Thibodaux was shot and killed on St. Peter Street in June.
“We need to get to the bottom of this and see where the system failed,” New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation President Melanie Talia said.
Her alleged killer was a teenager, already convicted of domestic abuse battery and seven counts of aggravated assault with a firearm.
When the 15-year-old fired the shots, he should have been wearing an ankle monitor.
“I don’t understand why this individual was on the street at all,” Murrill said.
Now, Attorney General Liz Murrill says she’s taking action, ordering the Louisiana Department of Justice to investigate New Orleans’ Juvenile Court System’s ankle monitoring contracts.
“I want an answer to the questions. I want to know why there’s a company that’s collecting public money that’s not doing the job that it was contracted to do. Those individuals should be held responsible for this woman’s death,” Murrill said.
Like Governor Jeff Landry, Murrill ran a tough-on-crime campaign.
“We just have to be a lot more aggressive in making sure that these individuals are held accountable and that starts in the court system,” Murrill said.
Some say this is the Attorney General making good on her promises.
“Here she is living up to what she said she’s going to do. She’s not going to tolerate being asleep at the wheel,” Talia said.
City officials agree the system if flawed, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams says “It’s a waste of time and money without real time monitoring, and it has led to disastrous consequences.”
It is a sentiment echoed by WWL Louisiana Political Analyst Clancy Dubos in his weekly commentary.
“Kristie Thibodaux's violent, senseless death both saddens and angers us all,” Dubos said. “Hopefully, it will also spur changes that could prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again.”
► 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.