Two-year-old killed in New Orleans shooting
By Stephen Babcock, The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune
A toddler playing outside at the B.W. Cooper housing development was shot to death amid a violent Sunday in New Orleans.
Keria Holmes, 2, died after being transported to a local hospital. A 20-year-old man, who police believe may have been the intended target, also was shot in the incident, but appeared to survive the attack, said Officer Frank Robertson III, New Orleans Police Department spokesman.
Four other people, including a 9-year-old, were wounded in separate shootings Sunday.
Police believe the incidents that injured the children are unrelated, but they bear striking similarities. In both attacks, the child victims were outside playing Sunday afternoon, and ended up caught in the middle of gunshots as cars drove by and bullets started flying. A motive or suspects have yet to be identified in the either case.
In the attack that claimed the girl's life, a group of children were playing in a courtyard between two of the housing complex's buildings at 3300 Erato St. around 4:45 p.m., Robertson said. A white car and a gray SUV approached on Erato and people in the vehicles began firing.
The two-year-old was shot in the head. She was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead some time before 6 p.m., police said. The 20-year-old man also was shot multiple times; police said he was in surgery Sunday evening.
Police are looking for the vehicles, and have yet to identify any suspects.
Addressing reporters at the scene, Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said he talked to the parents of the child.
"They're devastated," he said. "They're crushed.
Serpas called attention to the 20-year-old's arrest record, saying that he had prior arrests on gun and drug charges. Serpas spent a good bit of the news conference criticizing the courts for allowing people arrested on gun charges to go free.
"The NOPD is arresting a whole lot of dangerous people," Serpas said. "But somehow or another, with the drive-through window of justice on Broad and Tulane, they're right back out on the streets here and tonight we have a two-year-old child who lost her life."
Serpas said criminals think that when they get to court, "Oh, they'll get back out. Oh, they'll get a break."
"Well this baby didn't get a break," he said.
In the eastern New Orleans incident, a group of children were gathered on Salem Street around 3:30 p.m. A male wearing dark-colored clothing came running through the yard of the house, and started shooting at a gold Pontiac that was driving on the street. Caught between the bullets, the 9-year-old boy was wounded once in the side, and once in the arm. After being hit, the boy ran up the street toward his home, and collapsed in the house's yard. The shooters fled north on Salem Street toward Morrison Road.
Later Sunday night, a male and female victim were wounded near the corner of St. Claude and Tupelo Streets. The victims were at a block party when a gunman approached and opened fire. The female victim was taken to the hospital by EMS, and the male was taken by a private vehicle, Robertson said. Their conditions were unknown.
Serpas asked residents to call CrimeStoppers -- 504.822.1111 or toll free at 877.903.7867 -- with information about the shootings, which both occurred in crowded areas in broad daylight.
"This happened in the street," he said. "This happened where people saw it. This happened where people in this community can once again stand up and say, 'We're not going to stand for this.'"
>>>Dear God, have mercy on us. Lord save your people.
And citizens of New Orleans: this has to stop. Take back your neighborhoods and streets and hold the city and the police and the courts, especially those Orleans Parish judges accountable.
May she rest in peace in heaven!
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