On Thursday, a New Orleans mother appeared on WWL First News with Tommy Tucker to share the emotional ordeal her family has endured after a gunmen left her son partially paralyzed. To protect the victim and his loved ones, Tommy chose not to use their last name. Elisabeth is the mother. She says her son, Noah, is maintaining hope that he’ll be able to walk again. “He was severely injured. He has incisions and wounds that are still in the process of healing. We still have to go to wound care. He is paralyzed from the waist down. Prognosis presently is the doctors are saying it’s low that he continues walking. Obviously, we’re going to remain optimistic and work hard,” said Elisabeth.
Noah is an engineering student at the University of New Orleans. The shooting took place in the early morning hours of August 21 near the intersection of Paris Avenue and Killdeer Street in the Lakefront area of New Orleans. Elisabeth said she and her son had spent the day shopping and going to lunch on Magazine Street. When they returned to their home in the Lake Vista area, his mother says Noah went to his room to study. Elisabeth says he often liked to walk in the evenings to clear his head. He usually would walk in well-lit areas in the neighborhood and would text his mother to let her know he was okay. On that particular night, 30 minutes had passed since Noah sent a text to his mother. She sent a message to him but got no reply.
“It’s like my mommy bell went off. I jumped up and I said something is wrong and I hopped into the car with my fiancé, and we drove. And we went around the corner where I suspected he would be according to his last message. All I saw were blue lights and I knew in that moment. I crossed the line and the NOPD officer asked me, and I asked him, and he said yes, it’s your son. The other thing the officer said was there were so many bullet casings in the lawn that it was nothing short of an execution style shooting, that he should’ve never survived,” said Elisabeth.
According to the NOPD, just before 2:00, officers responded to the corner of Paris Avenue and Killdeer St. for a report of a shooting in the area. When they arrived, they found a man on the scene suffering from several gunshot wounds. According to Elisabeth, there were two suspects: a driver and a passenger. Elisabeth says the suspects drove up to her son as he was walking. The passenger jumped out of the car with a drawn and demanded Noah’s wallet, which he wasn’t carrying. The suspect then demanded Noah’s phone, which he gave up. Elisabeth said the situation escalated when the driver got out of the car and the shooting began. “He had nothing left to give them; except I guess his life. So, it makes no sense other than there are some people on this planet that obviously just don’t operate from the same place that others do, and they don’t have a respect and value of life,” said Elizabeth.
Elisabeth told Tommy that one suspect, a minor, had been arrested. She wasn’t sure if the minor was the passenger or the driver. The investigation is ongoing as is the search for the second suspect. Elisabeth praised the first responders and doctor who cared for her son in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. She’s also praising the work of the NOPD detective working her son’s case, but she has concerns that recently adjusted rotations which now require detectives and other members of the NOPD to supplement patrols for a severely understaffed police force will take time and focus away from her son’s case. Elisabeth is also frustrated about a decision by the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office that the minor arrested in the shooting will be processed in juvenile court.