Tag: new orleans

“Terrorist Attack” in New Orleans – 12 Dead, Dozens Injured After Individual Intentionally Drives into Crowd – Cops Injured in Gunfight on Bourbon Street

A reported terror attack hit New Orleans this morning with at least 12 people dead and at least 35 injured.

Fox News reported a driver in a white pick-up truck intentionally plowed a car into a crowd of New Year’s gatherers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, according to authorities.

The driver exited the vehicle and fired a weapon after hitting the crowd. Two police officers were reportedly injured in the gunfight.

There was a significant police presence and emergency vehicles at the scene. The 30 people have been transported to five hospitals.

The suspect died during the gunfight with police. It is unclear at this point if it was suicide by cop or he took his own life.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell called the incident a “terrorist attack” at a news conference. FBI Special Agent Aletha Duncan disputed her at the press conference and said this was not confirmed.

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‘They covered up child rape’: how the New Orleans archdiocese protected a priest who preyed on children

In the case of serial child molester and retired Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker, the cover-up failed.

But it wasn’t for lack of trying by a coalition of high-ranking church officials and sympathetic judges, who prioritized the predator’s comfort above justice for his innumerable victims until the evidence against him was so overwhelming that – rather than stand the humiliation of a public trial – he pleaded guilty last Tuesday.

The 93-year-old’s decision not only saddled him with an automatic life sentence. It also exposed how Catholic bureaucrats in Hecker’s home town of New Orleans, one of the church’s strongholds in the US, repeated the same sins that produced an eerily similar scandal in Boston two decades earlier – events later immortalized in the Oscar-winning film Spotlight.

This is the only conclusion to draw from years of reporting and studying the church files, court records, legal proceedings and and law enforcement documents outlining the campaign of terror to which Hecker subjected so many children raised in one of the most reliably Catholic regions remaining in the US.

Files held by New Orleans’s Catholic archdiocese establish that Hecker was molesting children virtually immediately upon his ordination in 1958. Chronologically speaking, one of Hecker’s earliest victims was a preteen altar boy who described attending nude swimming parties with the priest – gatherings that would culminate in sexual assaults by the attacker.

Hecker eventually instructed that boy to bring a box containing a feather to a particular fellow priest at another nearby Catholic school and church. In short order, the second priest sexually attacked the boy – and the victim said he came to realize Hecker had used the feather to mark him as vulnerable to molestation.

Unsurprisingly, Hecker’s superiors became more than aware of his crimes. Accusations against him piled up at each of the major milestones in the US church’s reckoning with Catholic clergy sexual abuse, which began in the 1980s when Louisiana priest Gilbert Gauthe pleaded guilty in criminal court to molesting several boys.

Around that time, then New Orleans archbishop Philip Hannan received a child molestation complaint against Hecker. Hannan’s response – carried out in private – was to fly Hecker to a sabbatical in New York City before letting him return to work once things back home cooled off.

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Jaw-dropping corruption allegations against New Orleans’ Dem Mayor LaToya Cantrell are revealed as FBI continues to probe her

Fresh corruption allegations have been levied against New Orleans’ Democrat Mayor LaToya Cantrell amid an FBI probe into her actions in office, sources say. 

Cantrell, 52, has been under investigation for over two years, with reports claiming she may face charges over allegations that she received gifts in exchange for firing a high-ranking New Orleans official. 

The complex probe has also seen the spotlight fall on police officer Jeffrey Vappie, who faced allegations that he was in a romantic tryst with the mayor, reports NOLA. 

Now, sources told the outlet that Vappie may also be set to face charges, potentially over being paid by the city for hours that he allegedly never worked. 

Allegations against Cantrell date back over two years, and NOLA reported that insiders with knowledge of the investigation believe she may also face charges. 

Cantrell’s office did not immediately return a request for comment. 

It is unclear what exactly these charges may be, and detectives have not publicly stated that they plan on bringing charges against her. 

Vappie’s resignation came after he was suspended when his wages came under scrutiny, at the same time it was alleged in Vappie’s divorce filing that he was carrying out an affair with a woman named only as ‘Mrs. L-C.’ 

Vappie’s ex-wife Danielle claimed that her husband and Cantrell had been carrying out an affair since he began working for her security detail in May 2021. 

The two were spotted dining at a restaurant together in April 2024, and when his wages were put under the microscope, it was reportedly found that he spent over 100 hours at Cantrell’s apartment over a 27-day stretch. 

In 2022, Fox New Orleans also reported that Vappie spent more than five hours of his workday with Cantrell in a publicly owned apartment in the city’s Upper Pontalba section, where they were often spotted together.  

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Archdiocese of New Orleans Suspected of Child Sex Trafficking, Warrant Shows

A criminal investigation into the Archdiocese of New Orleans is based on a suspicion that it may be linked to child sex trafficking, according to allegations presented in a search warrant granted to Louisiana State Police.

The affidavit requesting the search warrant, first obtained by the New Orleans-based WWL Radio, alleges that multiple sex abuse victims provided statements that claim they were transported to other parishes and outside of Louisiana, where they were sexually abused. It further alleges a scheme within the archdiocese in which abused children were instructed to provide “gifts” to certain priests, which were meant to signal that the children were targets for sexual abuse.

According to the allegations in the affidavit, multiple victims reported that they were brought to the New Orleans Seminary, where they were instructed to “swim naked in the pool and would be sexually assaulted or abused.” It also alleges that investigators found that this was “a common occurrence” and that other members of the archdiocese were present. 

“Based on these findings, as well as the allegations of previous widespread child sexual abuse, it was determined that further investigation into the Archdiocese of New Orleans was necessary,” investigator Scott Rodrigue wrote in the affidavit. 

Judge Juana Lombard granted police the search warrant last week, but the allegations in the warrant were not made public until Tuesday, April 30. It allows police to search personnel files, financial records, communications, and other documents related to allegations of sexual abuse.

The warrant acknowledges that the police have probable cause to suspect felony violations of the law that prohibits the “trafficking of children for a sexual purpose.”

Although the allegations contained in the warrant do not indicate when the alleged trafficking occurred, the information that led to a suspicion of sex trafficking was obtained by police during an earlier investigation into a retired priest named Lawrence Hecker, who is accused of raping an underage teenage boy in the 1970s. Father Hecker was indicted for the alleged crime but has not yet been tried.

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New Orleans residents warned ‘don’t sit in your car and play’ as carjackings skyrocket 165%

Carjackings in New Orleans, Louisiana have more than doubled since before the Covid-19 pandemic began nearly three years ago, increasing 165 percent over that period, city data shows.

The city has seen a significant rise in violent crime, including skyrocketing homicides, with the highest per capita rate among cities in the United States. The Big Easy saw 273 carjackings in the last year alone, compared to 103 in 2019. The sharp increase in crime has caused some residents to start taking precautions to avoid being targets, like avoiding using their cell phones while sitting in their cars.

“You try to park close to your house or where you’re going,” Kelly, of New Orleans, told Fox News. “You don’t sit in your car and play on your phone.”

Another woman, Sally, told people that they “have to be aware of what’s going on” at all times when they leave the house.

Other US cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Minneapolis have all seen increases in crime. Philadelphia, for example, has seen carjackings increase by nearly 500 percent since 2019, with over 1,300 incidents reported in 2022, the Philadelphia Police Department states.

Crime was so bad in the Pelican state’s largest city last year that the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) had to put a public notice out that it would be hiring civilians to do police work, as cops had left the force in droves. 

NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said, “As we take calls over the phone, there may be some evidence that needs to be collected with that call. We’ll have civilian investigators go out and collect that evidence instead of an officer having to go out there and collect that evidence.”  

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Dem Mayor Who Blew $30K on First-Class Flights Found Living in Luxury Taxpayer-Funded Apartment

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, a Democrat, admitted to living in a $3000-a-month luxury apartment rent-free just weeks after being caught blowing $30,000 on first-class fights, all funded by the taxpayer.

Last month, Cantrell was caught spending city funds on first class air travel, saying economy class was ‘unsafe’ for black women.

Cantrell’s opulent apartment is located in the city’s Upper Pontalba building on Jackson Square in the famous district.

The apartment, which has a market rate of $2,991 per month, is owned by the city and managed by the French Market Corp.

A spokesperson for Cantrell said the Mayor had done nothing wrong, arguing that everything is legal according to the city’s terms with French Market Corp.

But despite Cantrell’s spokesperson’s claims, the city’s Metropolitan Crime Commission sent a report asking for an investigation into the Mayor’s use of the apartment.

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‘He Couldn’t Even Bark Yet’: Cops Walk Into Fenced-In Yard, Kill 18-Week-old Puppy

Since Saturday night, Derek Brown and Julie-Barecki Brown have been morning the loss of their 18-week-old puppy named Apollo. Apollo didn’t die from being hit by a car or from medical complications, however, his life was taken from him by a member of New Orleans’ finest.

The couple told 4WWL they had gotten in a verbal argument the night a New Orleans police officer entered their yard and killed their puppy.

“Married couples do that,” Derek Brown said of the argument, adding that it shouldn’t have warranted a police response,” We weren’t drawing guns.”

Julie told the outlet she heard her gate open and just seconds later, she heard three gunshots. The couple’s puppy would be killed instantly.

“I ran out here, and the puppy was right there, writhing,” Brown said. “I feel responsible. It’s my job to protect that little guy.”

Two months before he was killed by police, the couple adopted their puppy from Marcus Gandy who fosters dogs who need a home.

“I have his brother here with me. They’re both small enough to carry under your arm,” Gandy said.

“Apollo and his mother arrived the day after the rest of the litter at the Trampled Rose Rescue & Rehab on the Northshore,” the program’s founder Holly Williams said.

“We actually took his mother and her 9 puppies into our rescue the day after they were born, Mama dog was so skinny you couldn’t tell she was pregnant,” Williams said. “Then popped out 9 incredibly tiny babies. Miraculously and thanks to the expert care of our vet, all of the puppies survived.”

“He was not at all a threat,” a friend of the couple, Jennifer Lee said. “He couldn’t even bark.”

“He’s the kind of dog that if he jumped on you, you wouldn’t even feel it,” Gandy said. “They killed a puppy.”

According to the couple, they had two dogs in the backyard and Apollo was the smallest as he was just a puppy. Their other dog weighs 65 pounds but apparently the officer felt more threatened by the harmless 18-week old puppy.

After police killed their puppy, they stayed at the couple’s home for four hours. Though police didn’t identify the officer who shot Apollo, Derek says it was easy to pick him out.

“It was obvious who the cop was that shot him because he was pretty distraught,” said Derek Brown, his voice breaking. “All he said was, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’”

Eventually, police left and took Apollo’s remains with them to conduct an investigation into the shooting. The couple has asked to get his ashes back when the investigation is complete.

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New Orleans bans Mardi Gras parades for 2021

New Orleans has banned parades for the 2021 Mardi Gras celebration as the city grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, officials have announced.

City officials on Tuesday tweeted out guidance for the upcoming Mardi Gras in February that included a photo with text stating that there would be “no parades in 2021.”

The photo said that the upcoming “Mardi Gras is different” but “not cancelled.”

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