Video posted to social media captured the moment bullets hit two people in downtown New Orleans Wednesday afternoon. Just hours after that video was posted, three suspects in that shooting were arrested in connection with the incident.
Brycesion Jones, 21, and two juvenile males, ages 16 and 17, are all facing two counts each of attempted second-degree murder and two counts of of aggravated assault with a firearm and one count each of aggravated arson, obstruction of justice, illegal use of weapons, and illegal possession of a machine gun.
Police say they were able to identify Jones and the teen suspects through their investigation, which according to Metropolitan Crime Commission President/CEO Rafael Goyeneche included surveillance video from near the scene and shell casings left at the scene of the crime. Police later tracked the suspects to a home in New Orleans East and arrested them there.
The dash cam shows a black, four door, pickup truck approaching the intersection of Carondelet and Common Street. Then bullets start flying.
You then see one victim dragging themself down the sidewalk after being shot.
"Two gunshot wound victims – a male and a female – were located on scene," the NOPD Public Affairs Division said in an email. "Initial notification was received at about 3:47 p.m."
Both victims were hospitalized.
Goyeneche says the video posted online and surveillance video from the area provide some clues about what led up to that shooting.
"That wasn't a random shooting," Goyeneche said. "That wasn't the shooters attempting to commit an armed robbery. To me, that shooting indicated that the individuals in the truck were targeting those specific victims. They had been following them in the truck, and when the opportunity presented itself, they opened fire on their intended targets."
Goyaneche says video shows the suspect truck following the victims and then opening fire when the opportunity presented itself. Goyeneche shootings like this one are the result of criminals trying to one-up each other.
"Part of the reason for the abnormally high crime rate in the city (is because) we have groups in the city that are involved in these shootings that are attempting to either retaliate against their rivals or assert dominance over their rivals, and they'll target and hunt them," Goyeneche said. "When the opportunity presents itself, they will open fire. That's what I believe happened (Wednesday) in the Central Business District."
Goyeneche says the fact that this wasn't a random crime may give residents of the CBD some solace.
"The people who live and work in the Central Business District, that should probably feel a little bit better," Goyeneche said. "They're not going to be happy about it."
