Person of interest sought for Bourbon Street shooting, reignites thoughts of National Guard deployment

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The New Orleans Police Department is searching for a suspect in connection with a deadly shooting on Bourbon Street on Sunday, Sept. 28 that injured three people and killed 33-year-old Jessica Williams. Williams was in town celebrating her birthday.

“It’s a lot better for suspects to turn themselves in, rather than put their families through the trauma of search warrants being executed and arrest warrants being executed,” said Executive Director of Project NOLA Bryan Lagarde.

Lagarde says after hearing the news of the shooting, his organization immediately handed over the video to the NOPD.

“We saw the suspect, with the gun in his hand, putting it into his waistband and covering it with his shirt. Then we took it upon ourselves to use facial recognition and clothing recognition to very quickly recreate that person’s movements,” said Lagarde.

State Representative Alonzo Knox says the shooting is a tragedy. He’s now calling for the entire French Quarter to be established as a gun-free zone, saying that innocent bystanders continue to be at risk of violence.

“To have a location where individuals can freely carry weapons at random, they should. I mean, if I were, maybe some innocent bystanders would get it. It’s almost inevitable,” said Representative Knox.

The shooting occurred just weeks after President Trump hinted at deploying the National Guard to New Orleans to crack down on crime. Some believe it needs to happen sooner rather than later.

“We need the national guard. This is horrible. It’s always something here. You know, and that’s not right, we have tourists here. You know, and this is fun for people from all over the world to come and enjoy, especially with Mardi Gras that’s coming,” said Maria Johnson.

The shooting remains under investigation. Anyone with information can call Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.

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