Single shooter chased victim into restaurant, three tourists wounded
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Crimestoppers of Greater New Orleans is offering more money for information Friday evening’s shooting at Dooky Chase’s restaurant that killed a 19-year-old and wounded three others.
Full NOPD news conference
The nonprofit is offering a reward of $13,500, up from $5,000.
New Orleans Police Department Supt. Anne Kirkpatrick said there was a single shooter, but other individuals might have been involved in the incident.
“We’re looking for descriptions of people. We’re looking for vehicles if there is one, or some. So, if you will reflect back and think, ‘Gee, I think I saw X, Y, Z,’ let us know,” she said.
Police described the situation as the shooter and others chasing the deceased victim — 19-year-old Kareem Harris — into the restaurant. The shooter killed Harris and injured the three others in a spray of bullets inside the restaurant’s foyer.
“He was being shot at as he was trying to escape and hide. So, he ran into the foyer of the restaurant,” Kirkpatrick said.
The identity of the shooter and motive remains unclear. Kirkpatrick theorized it could have been a retaliation shooting.
Three tourists wounded in shooting
Kirkpatrick said the three surviving women were all tourists.
Two of the women were visiting together from Los Angeles as friends.
One of the Los Angeles women suffered five gunshot wounds, required multiple surgeries and is in serious condition. The second Los Angeles woman had surgery but is now stable.
The third victim is a woman from Lake Worth, Fla. Kirkpatrick said she sustained a graze wound but was treated and released Friday night.
Harris’s older sister speaks out
Kia Simmons, Harris’s older sister, spoke at a news conference on behalf of the family. She said her brother was funny and good-natured.
“All he did is just make people laugh,” she said. “Y’all see any videos of him anywhere, they’re going to be of him just laughing and just making jokes.”
Simmons questioned Kirkpatrick’s suggestion of retaliation and spoke to the shooter:
“I don’t know what y’all killed my little brother for,” she said. “My little brother didn’t do y‘all nothing.”
