NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – NOPD arrested a 33-year-old man Sunday for reportedly walking down Magazine Street holding a handgun and pointing it at passing cars and people walking on the street.
According to a news release from NOPD, officers were dispatched to the 5300 block of Magazine Street just after noon Sunday. A man told officers he was parking his vehicle at the corner of Camp and Valmont streets to visit his girlfriend when a woman ran toward him and told him that she heard a gunshot.
The man said he heard another gunshot, then saw what appeared to be a gun barrel coming from the mail slot opening of an apartment door. The gun barrel was facing the two victims, police said.
The man holding the gun, 33-year-old Chase Hardesty, opened the door, prompting the man and woman to run away and call police.
Police then received numerous calls about a man fitting the same description as Hardesty in the area of Magazine and Bellecastle streets, holding a handgun and pointing it at people and passing cars.
Police found Hardesty at the corner of Magazine and Leontine streets. He was holding a loaded gun.
Others told police that Hardesty damaged their property while he was walking around with the loaded gun.
Hardesty was booked into the Orleans Parish Jail on two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, and one count each of aggravated criminal damage, simple criminal damage to property, illegal use of a weapon and illegal carrying of a weapon.
