b.rox

A sick and hateful man killed six people at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. My heart goes out to the families of those who have been killed. A community has been wounded, and in some way we are all hurt by such violence. As Maitri notes, we are all in the gutter. But I didn’t [...]

When I was changing planes in Philly I got two pieces of bad news from New Orleans, the second of which was so harrowing it made the first seem trivial. First, I learned the Saints suffered their first defeat of the season, in overtime, no less; to the Atlanta Falcons, no less; at the Superdome, [...]

We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat. — Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, senior American and NATO commander in Afghanistan

I got a call from L— H— this morning. At least I think it was L— H—. In any event it was a man claiming to be L— H— and I have no reason to believe otherwise. Contrary to some comments posted here a couple months ago, he is alive and living in Ohio. He [...]

Note: The title’s a lyrical reference to a New Orleans hip-hop track, and of course there’s a (NSFW) mix if you want some musical accompaniment to what follows. It is rare for me to remove a post from my blog but it has happened a few times over the years. The most recent case involves [...]

As I rode my bike to my book club yesterday morning, I wondered idly what name the day might have. Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday… surely this Saturday must have a name too? We had a new visitor to our book circle, a woman named Charlotte. I’d guess her to be somewhere around my [...]

Today it’s been a year since Helen was killed, and like Cristin, I don’t know quite what to say. The superintendent of police was on TV last night saying that they had a suspect, but he couldn’t reveal anything more about the case. To be honest, my first thought was: He’s lying. It’s been a [...]

48 Hours Mystery will be running a show this weekend about Helen Hill and Dinerral Shavers and the general topic of violence in New Orleans. I spoke to the producers a couple of times. One producer told me he was disappointed by the seeming resignation of most of the people they’d interviewed. He was hoping [...]

I didn’t know Nia Robertson. And now I never will. Nia was killed at Pal’s Lounge Wednesday night. I first heard about it through Think New Orleans and Metroblogging. Then the story was on the front page of today’s paper. It’s a sad fact that violent crimes and murders happen on an almost daily basis [...]

I’ve been fiddling around with the new nopd.com crime-mapping feature. It’s pretty interesting stuff. You can put in an address and see all the crime reports for the vicinity. You can specify the radius and the time frame and filter by different types of crime. So, for example, I was able to learn that so [...]

Yesterday, the District Attorney dropped the charges against the suspect in a quintuple murder because the witness had disappeared. Today, the NOPD located the witness.

A new phrase has been added to my vocabulary: nolle prosequi, Latin for “unwilling to pursue.” The District Attorney said nolle prosequi about David Bonds’ case last week. Bonds was accused of killing Dinerral Shavers. I never knew Dinerral, but I was disturbed by news of his murder, which I wrote about in December. The [...]

I read in the paper last weekend that B-Stupid copped a plea. In exchange for pleading guilty in federal court Thursday to drug-trafficking and gun crimes and his agreement in state court that he was involved with a friend’s murder, a 22-year-old New Orleans man will face a possible sentence of 25 years instead of [...]

Donna comes and cleans my office every day. Her son was killed last Mardi Gras. We talk about Manny frequently. She’s strong, but the pain and distress in her life are evident. She was looking for some grief counseling resources. With the help of Howie and his lovely wife I think she’s got a line [...]

I was just talking to a lady who works a janitorial detail here at the University. Her son, Jermaine Wise, was murdered last Mardi Gras by none other than B Stupid, aka Ivory Harris. Remember him? He was public enemy #1 until he got arrested March 20th. She pointed out he’s being charged with second [...]

Monday’s Times-Picayune carried a story in the Metro section about a young man named Chivas Doyle. He just turned 24 last week. He was attending Delgado Community College. He was a practical joker. Everyone called him Tank because he was 7′ tall. He was found dead in his FEMA trailer in the Upper Ninth Ward, [...]

I’m speaking at today’s march for five minutes, a task for which I feel utterly inadequate. I’ve been trying to collect my thoughts. Here’s what I’m planning to say: Helen Hill was a close personal friend of mine, and her murder affected me deeply. Helen’s funeral took place yesterday in South Carolina, and today we’re [...]

This is the worst, most impossible news I’ve had occasion to pass on. I frankly am having trouble believing it’s real. Paul and Helen were Mid-City residents until their home was flooded. ROX viewers will know from episode #90, Fat — the cute vegan couple with the pet pig. I wish it was a bad [...]

In the paper today: Prominent musician killed while his family watched Dinerral Shavers, 25, died from a gunshot to the back of his head at about 5:30 p.m. while behind the wheel of his black Chevrolet Malibu in the 2200 block of Dumaine Street, police said… Although critically wounded, Shavers continued driving four blocks up [...]

Taisha is a young girl who lives across the street from us. She and her mother moved in a few weeks ago. Before that she used to attend the school where Xy teaches in Algiers, though they didn’t know each other there. Last Friday Taisha’s older brother was gunned down in Central City. This incident [...]