Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The Mother's Day shootings: What constitutes an act of terror?
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, May 14, 2013 at 6:00 PM
On Sunday, hours after the Mother’s Day shooting in the Seventh Ward, FBI New Orleans spokeswoman Mary Beth Romig told the Associated Press the gunfire that injured 19 people was, as far as federal investigators knew, not an act of terrorism. “It’s strictly an act of street violence,” Romig said.
Today, on the WWL Eyewitness Morning News, Mayor Mitch Landrieu disagreed. Asked by Sally-Ann Roberts if he considered the shooting to be terrorism, Landrieu said, “I think so. I’ve talked about whether people are terrorized by activities. People use that term in a dramatic way, like it has to be somebody from outside threatening us on the inside. But the truth of the matter is, every day in neighborhoods across the city — this city and other cities — you have families that are afraid of going outside.”
So what defines an "act of terror" versus an act that causes a neighborhood or a city to live in terror?
Taqueria’s tiki bar debuts tonight
Posted by Ian McNulty on Tue, May 14, 2013 at 1:42 PM
- IAN MCNULTY
- Felipe's Taqueria in the French Quarter. Tiki Tolteca opens upstairs.
Known for its fast-casual Mexican format and self-serve salsa bar, Felipe’s Taqueria has been upping its game lately at the bar, which serves Mexican-inspired craft cocktails and even "flights" of mezcal, the earthier, smokier relative to tequila.
Next up for taqueria outfit is a much bigger and ambitious undertaking. Tonight, at 5 p.m., Felipe’s plans to open Tiki Tolteca, a separate tiki bar and tapas-style restaurant above its French Quarter location.
Felipe’s bar manager Nathan Dalton explains that both the tiki drinks and the food will have a “Latin fusion” theme. Tiki drinks made with regional liquors like tequilas, mescal, pisco and cachaca will join the more traditional rum recipes while in the kitchen chef Marcus Graham will serve a menu of small plates blending Peruvian, Polynesian, Mexican, and Central American flavors. See the full menu below.
Mother's Day shooting suspect had prior arrests
Posted by Alex Woodward on Tue, May 14, 2013 at 9:50 AM
A few hours following a community rally at the site of the Mother's Day second line shooting, New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) officials named Akein Scott, 19, as the suspect, seen in the surveillance footage.
This is not Scott's first brush with the law. In March, Scott was charged with possession of heroin, possession of stolen firearms and resisting an officer, according to Orleans Parish Criminal Court records. The charges were refused. He was released on bond April 29.
At a press conference yesterday afternoon, NOPD superintendent Ronal Serpas urged the suspect to turn himself in. "We know a lot more about you than you think we do," he said. "My recommendation is to collect yourself and turn yourself in to the nearest police facility, DA’s office or anywhere you may want."
Police name suspect in Mother's Day shootings
Posted by Kandace Graves on Tue, May 14, 2013 at 8:38 AM
Police are searching today for 19-year-old Akein Scott as a suspect in the shootings of 19 people at a Mother’s Day second-line parade in the 7th Ward.
At a news conference Monday night Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas called on Scott “to do the right thing” and surrender. The police chief said several people had identified Scott as the shooter in a videotape the police released after the shooting.
Police originally said they were searching for three suspects who were seen fleeing the vicinity of the shooting, but on Monday night Serpas said it was too soon to know how many people were involved.
Serpas said Scott previously had been arrested on weapons and drug charges, as well as resisting an officer, but was free on bond at the time of the shooting.
Three of the people injured during Sunday’s shooting remain in critical condition. Five others have been released from the hospital.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Photos: Community rally gathers at site of second line shooting
Posted by Alex Woodward on Mon, May 13, 2013 at 10:33 PM
- ALEX WOODWARD
- Brother Al Mims Jr. brought this painting to the rally at the site of a second line shooting.
As sun set at the intersection of Frenchmen and North Villere streets, 200 people gathered at the site of yesterday's Original Big 7 Social Aid and Pleasure Club's annual Mother's Day second line, which ended prematurely as 19 people were injured in a shooting. Mayor Mitch Landrieu, members of New Orleans City Council, community leaders and others spoke into a microphone at the center of the intersection.
"Everybody on this street knows that what happened yesterday has nothing to do with the cultural beauty of New Orleans," Landrieu said. "It happened during a sacred event. ... We all came out here to reclaim this spot, and to say what happened yesterday does not reflect who the people of New Orleans are or what we're about."
Members of the Big 7 pledged that the second line will return, possibly next month. The organization's business manager Dismas Johnson told Gambit that organizers have met with the mayor's office and NOPD about picking a new time and location. "It's something that's got to go on," he said.
Speaking to the crowd, Big 7 member Edward Buckner echoed that pledge as he introduced Jason, an 11-year-old boy who attended yesterday's parade and ran from the shooting. "It sounded like a big ol' explosion," he said. "At least my family was safe. At least nobody got killed. I wanted to say, a solution is if you got a gun it means you're scared."
His mother Monique Foucher said Jason ran when he heard the shots. "He wasn't scared," she said. "We asked God to protect us and put a shield around us."
James Gill jumps from The Times-Picayune to The Advocate
Posted by Kevin Allman on Mon, May 13, 2013 at 10:01 PM
James Gill, whose acerbic wit and incisive columns about Louisiana politics and peccadillos have appeared in The Times-Picayune since 1986, is the latest T-P name to jump ship to The Advocate.
"It's very hard to make out a quote, because quotes are all bullshit," Gill told Gambit tonight. "But I am delighted to go to the highest bidder, I am happy to be renewing my association with [former Times-Picayune managing editor, now Advocate editor] Peter Kovacs — and I am delighted we have a newspaper war again after so many years."
Gill took a buyout from the Picayune in late 2009 and almost immediately signed a freelance agreement to continue his elegant-but-pugnacious column on the paper's op-ed page. Since then, he and his wife Gail have split their time between New Orleans and Gill's native England.
In 1997, Gill wrote Lords of Misrule, a book that traced the intersections between the history of New Orleans and the history of Mardi Gras Carnival krewes.
Last January, Gill wrote about the news that businessman John Georges was interested in buying The Advocate:
The Picayune, after publishing a daily since 1837, was bound to be missed, and the Advocate's owners did not neglect the opportunity to pick up the slack. They launched a New Orleans edition, which they say is selling respectably.That just goes to show that a lot of people really do like a paper in their hands every morning, because The Advocate's New Orleans edition cannot hold a candle to the Picayune. This is not a knock on the ex-Picayune staffers who make up its New Orleans bureau; it doesn't matter how brilliant they are, because we still have them hopelessly outnumbered.
With Gill jumping ship, that number was just reduced by one, and more are expected to follow this week.
WWL-TV: CUE magazine spring makeovers
Posted by Gambit TV on Mon, May 13, 2013 at 7:22 PM
CUE editor Missy Wilkinson appeared on the WWL Eyewitness Morning News today to show off the new issue (tucked inside this week's Gambit) and show off some spring makeovers. Watch:
A visual representation of the Mother's Day second line shootings
Posted by Alejandro de los Rios on Mon, May 13, 2013 at 4:58 PM
As noted several times here and through other media, Gambit contributor Deborah "Big Red" Cotton was one of the 19 people shot at yesterday's Mother's Day second line put on by the Original Big 7 Social Aid & Pleasure Club. Also noted here was Cotton's 2010 article on the media bias against SAPC's where she highlights how the news media misreported shootings that occurred in the vicinity of a where a second line had passed, but not during the actual parade, as "second line shootings."
There is no doubt that the shooting yesterday happened during the parade and, as stated by Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas, there is also no doubt that the second line had nothing to do with the shooting.
Officials update Mother's Day second line shooting
Posted by Alex Woodward on Mon, May 13, 2013 at 4:30 PM
- ALEX WOODWARD
- NOPD Chief Ronal Serpas discusses the Mother's Day second line shooting.
New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) and federal authorities gathered outside NOPD headquarters this afternoon to provide updates following the shooting at a second line yesterday that injured 19 people, three critically.
NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas said most of the wounds were "superficial, glancing wounds," though those that remain in critical condition faced "direct gunshot wounds."
"We have no ability to give you the condition of persons who went through surgery today, but we know they’re still receiving medical attention," Serpas said.
Investigators are still trying to determine whether there was more than one gunman at the scene, and if there was more than one weapon. "Ballistic evidence is giving us very good leads to work on," Serpas said.
5th District detectives Robert Hurst and Rayell Johnson "have worked virtually nonstop since yesterday afternoon," Serpas said, later adding, "I can assure whoever did this, we know a lot more about you than you think we do. My recommendation is to collect yourself and turn yourself into the nearest police facility, DA’s office or anywhere you may want." Serpas later added that NOPD has not ruled out that the shooting was motivated by gang activity.
Fundraiser for victims of Mother's Day second line violence
Posted by Kevin Allman on Mon, May 13, 2013 at 1:39 PM
Mary von Kurnatowski, founder of the Tipitina's Foundation, will be making the club available for a benefit. No date yet, but we hope to hold the benefit in the next two weeks. Marie Lovejoy, FEDE's executive director, says "there is no shortage of musicians willing and ready to participate."
Gambit will also set up a webpage for donations, and is working with a local bank where people can drop off donations in person.
We realize this information is very preliminary, but it's in response to the many queries we've received since yesterday. Gambit and the Tipitina's Foundation will update you here on Blog of New Orleans as soon as we have more details, as well as on our Facebook and Twitter feeds.
Recent Comments
-
Re: Sunday: Divine Ladies Second Line
The point? Wasteful as well as very bad use of tax payer money for truly…
- on May 19, 2013
-
Re: Sunday: Divine Ladies Second Line
So, what's your point?
-
on May 19, 2013
-
Re: Essence Festival 2013 daily schedule announced
Yesssssssss
-
on May 18, 2013
-
Re: Benefit for Mother's Day shooting victims May 23 at Tip’s
HumidCity will do everything it can to assist. If there is something we can do…
- on May 17, 2013
-
Re: Sunday: Divine Ladies Second Line
Wow, great!
Throw another party in the city with the highest poverty rate in…- on May 17, 2013
-
Re: Big Tymers will release a new album... without Mannie Fresh
Can you say it's The Beatles without John?
Or can it be Miami Vice…- on May 16, 2013
-
Re: Encore screenings of Timecode:nola's Where Y'at (hello) presented at Chalmette Movies
an excellent movie! my review - http://www.neauxreelidea.com/2013/04/revie…
- on May 15, 2013
-
Re: Review: The Great Gatsby
The road to Hell is paved in unbought stuffed dogs.
- on May 15, 2013
-
Re: The Mother's Day shootings: What constitutes an act of terror?
Long how many more billions we spend to prevent the FBI's definition of terrorism versus…
-
on May 15, 2013
-
Re: Rice Mill Lofts: a haven for divorced people who love ironic graffiti
To Backatcha:
Your Typical "Short-Sighted Mean Spirited, Long Term Pain" Comment is why New…- on May 15, 2013
-
Re: Rice Mill Lofts: a haven for divorced people who love ironic graffiti
Boy what a mean spirited article downing some one else's hard work. I am surprised…
- on May 15, 2013
-
Re: Mid-City yoga studio plans a new vegetarian restaurant
Bikram Choudhury
I have been exploring for a slight for any high excellence articles or…- on May 15, 2013
- More »
