NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - The New Orleans Police Department hasn’t provided any updates on its investigation of a shooting on Interstate 10 in New Orleans East that left two women and two children injured last Friday (April 7).
“I hope the detectives and police can do their jobs,” one of the women victims told Fox 8 on Monday. “But of course, here in New Orleans, that is hard to do.”
The family spent Easter weekend in a hospital, recovering from gunshot wounds. One woman was shot in the shoulder, the other in the leg. An 8-year-old girl suffered a graze wound to her head. And her 11-year-old brother was critically injured when a bullet entered his back and traveled into his jaw.
“I don’t want another family to have to go through what I just went through, because that was traumatic,” the boy’s mother said.
The family was traveling to a waterpark in Alabama when the bullets pierced their SUV as they drove through New Orleans East. The NOPD has made no arrests, nor provided an update to the public about the case since the shooting.
Oliver Thomas, who represents New Orleans East on the City Council, said such violence is not emblematic of the district’s community.
“They don’t need to be unfairly labeled. It’s unfortunate that it happens anywhere,” Thomas said. “If you look at real-time statistics, the people of New Orleans East don’t deserve to be labeled as a place of violence because it’s not.”
But this and other recent interstate shootings in the area have drivers on edge.
“When I was driving to Alabama, I was saying in my head, ‘Let me hurry up and get through the East,’” said the wounded mother. “That is sad, that we have to be scared to even drive through the East on the interstate.”
Thomas said it’s important for NOPD detectives to identify the suspects and bring them to justice. He says he was told detectives would seek to use surveillance cameras in their investigation.
“So, hopefully it happens sooner than later (for) this young man that is fighting for his life and his family who were victims,” Thomas said. “We pray for healing for them and that they’re completely healthy.”
At the scene of Friday’s shooting, Thomas admits he was given incorrect information about what could have provoked the incident. He says he has since apologized to the family.
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