NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — A police officer died following a shooting at a home in New Orleans, officials announced Tuesday.
A family who lives on Touro Street says they were trying to help their neighbor jump start her car Tuesday morning, but their attempts were unsuccessful, so they left for work.
Just minutes later, one of the family members returned home after forgetting something to find a woman, who they presume called 911, outside their neighbor’s house.
“I pulled up, I could see the lady was already outside, but you could tell nothing had happened then,” neighbor Earvin Darby said. “When I actually get out the van and walk into the door, I could hear it; I heard the shot. Then, I heard the lady screaming, so I walked back outside to see what was going on.”
According to the New Orleans Police Department, detectives were called to a home on Touro Street, about a block from Fillmore Avenue in Gentilly, around 8:30 a.m. Police say the original call was for a wellness check.
When officers arrived, they found the victim, a 36-year-old woman, who had been fatally shot. Although the officer’s identity was not disclosed to the public, Supt. Shaun Ferguson tells WGNO that she had been a nine-year veteran of the NOPD and called the event horrible news.
At this time, the incident is being investigated as an unclassified death, but Ferguson did add his officers take on a lot when protecting their community.
“Because of the pressure of wanting to serve in an honorable way, and with that, the level of scrutiny in which this profession receives,” Ferguson said. “It is hard.”
The district’s councilman, Eugene Green, wanted to remind people about the resources available through the city’s health department.
“But just recognize that no pain or hurt should be suffered in a vacuum, that there are people out there and there are institutions out there that want to help,” Green said.
Neighbors say they are thinking of the woman’s family as the holidays approach.
“You just never know what people are going through,” neighbor Adrian Darby said. “To do this so close to Christmas with kids, it’s devastating.”
According to Ferguson, his department recently hired a program director to facilitate health assistance for the officers.
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