Despite a rash of shootings in New Orleans over the weekend, the New Orleans Police Department is celebrating the success it had in taking guns off the street in and around the French Quarter and Central Business District.
According to NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson, officers made 62 gun-related arrests in the Eighth District Friday and Saturday. Ferguson added that Louisiana State Police made an addition six gun-related arrests. Most of those arrests, Ferguson said, were for illegal possession of a concealed gun.
Ferguson says of the 68 people arrested, only 10 of them are from the New Orleans Metro Area. Forty-eight of the suspects are from Louisiana but from outside the New Orleans Metro Area, while another 10 are from other states.
One of the suspects from the New Orleans area, Tyreke Butler, 17, was wanted in connection with an October 17 shooting on St. Joseph Street.
“No matter where you come from, when celebrating in the City of New Orleans, leave your weapons at home,” Ferguson said in a released statement. ”I also ask our citizens to continue reporting suspicious behavior. If you see something, say something.”
Ferguson says so far this year, NOPD officers have made 950 gun-related arrests and have confiscated 2,456 guns. Both figures, according to Ferguson, are higher than 2021’s totals.
