After violent few days, New Orleans residents plea for peace
Shell casings still dot Angela Trepagnier's block, between Harrison Avenue and Encampment Street in New Orleans' St. Bernard neighborhood.
Trepagnier looked down at the casings, each a reminder of the three people killed just feet from where she slept overnight.
"This is my backyard," she told WDSU. "This is literally my backyard."
The shooting happened at around 3 a.m. in an apartment building feet from Trepagnier's fence. Police are still seeking the shooter or shooters involved. Trepagnier, who has lived on the block for nine years and has noticed more crimes near her home lately, fears what could come next.
"I'm thinking something needs to happen," she said. "Something needs to happen."
The frustrations don't stop there, not after a deadly few days in New Orleans. At 2 a.m. Sunday in the French Quarter, a stray bullet killed longtime Cat's Meow bartender Spencer Hudson while he was working.
"There clearly are too many guns on Bourbon Street," said Bob Simms. He runs the French Quarter Task Force, a civilian group that operates off-duty patrols in the Quarter with the goal of freeing up workloads of on-duty officers.
Simms hopes new vehicles and technology will help that mission. But he says safety will take a team effort.
"We have to keep the city safe. Not just the French Quarter, we have to keep the city safe. Obviously what we can do to help is what we have to do."
One man's idea of help is being there for the families left behind. Al Mims Jr.'s father was murdered years ago. And ever since, this son has been attending all the vigils he can.
"I'm hurt, and I cry until I'm dehydrated," Mims said Saturday at a balloon release for 13-year-old Byron Kelly, killed last week while walking home in Central City. "This is my crusade. This is my fight. This is my mission."
Mims says until the violence ends, his mission will not.
"I hope, I hope this will be the last time," he said. "I'm tired, but I hope."