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| quote: | Local - WDSU TheNewOrleansChannel.com
Neighborhood Tensions High After Shooting
Mon Apr 14, 5:55 PM ET Add Local - WDSU TheNewOrleansChannel.com to My Yahoo!
Kelly Weston, Staff Writer
April 14, 2003, 4:48 p.m. CDT
Four suspects were arrested Monday after what New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass called a premeditated, "retaliatory" shooting that killed one student and injured four others at a 7th Ward school.
Police said gunfire from an AK-47 assault rifle erupted inside the John McDonogh High School gymnasium at 10:30 a.m. About 50 students were in the gym at the time, officials said. Police think the suspects climbed onto the roof of an abandoned home to scale the perimeter fence of school, which has metal detectors and is patrolled by four armed security officers
Three other students were taken to Charity Hospital. A 15-year-old female listed in serious condition underwent surgery on gunshot wounds to her legs. Triketa Barracks, 16, was treated for a gunshot wound to the thigh, and Michelle Brown, 16, was treated for a gunshot wound to her buttock. Both have since been released. A fourth student was treated at another local hospital for trample wounds. Police worked two scenes at the school on Esplanade Avenue, one inside the gymnasium and another outside on school grounds. Other officers blanketed the neighborhood, some of them running with guns drawn, witnesses said.
SWAT teams responded to a third scene, a home on nearby North Tonti Street, where two of the arrests were made and several weapons were seized. Two other suspects were arrested in a car on Rocheblave Street.
Arrested were a 19-year-old, two 18-year-olds and a 15-year-old. They are not McDonogh students, School Board member Jimmy Fahrenholtz said.
WDSU NewsChannel 6 reporter Heath Allen interviewed several residents and students who speculated that the shooting was linked to the activities of a "Dumaine Street gang."
A WDSU NewsChannel 6 photographer who was present during the North Tonti Street arrests said the suspects were dressed alike in dreadlocks, white shirts and jeans.
Orleans Parish Schools Superintendent Anthony Amato said officials were trying to determine if the shooting was connected to a series of recent fights involving students at the corner of Esplanade Avenue and Broad Street.
"We're investigating to see if, in fact, there is any connection with something that happened outside the school about a week ago," Amato said.
The Esplanade Avenue school was on lockdown for about an hour and a half after the shooting, with no one allowed to enter or leave the building. At noon, school officials let in parents in small groups to pick up their children.
As news of the shooting broke, frantic relatives began arriving at the school. People lined the streets outside the school, and at least one fistfight broke out between the victims' and suspects' family members, Allen said.
One man, identified only as Tyrone, said his girlfriend's 16-year-old daughter called him from the school on her cell phone, begging her mother to come get her. The girl described to the man a chaotic scene in which at least two gunmen began firing inside the school gym.
A McDonogh teacher, who asked not to be identified, called the WDSU newsroom. She said the students in her classroom were safe but nervous.
"Schools should absolutely be safe havens," Amato said. "What you witnessed today is, unfortunately, something which has occurred across America. Today in America, you just can't insure against major incidents. However, in this school, in this system, we are going to work relentlessly to put more people on guard in terms of security and to put more people to ensure the safety of our kids."
The father of the dead student said he didn't think more officers would make a difference.
"They don't do nothing about it, I'll be honest with you," Johnny Williams said. "I watch them every day, and those kids do what they want. Every day. Security doesn't do nothing."
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from YAHOO
another source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...-home-headlines
wtf?? an AK-47??? those are some messed up kids. i don't know if this is true though, because i haven't heard about it on tv or anything... i'm speechless... |
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