New Orleans, LA: Violence leaves 4 dead

New Orleans — A violent weekend in New Orleans left four people dead and several others wounded, but New Orleans police have identified suspects and motives in several of the incidents.

In total, eight people were shot, four were stabbed and several others were robbed from early Saturday morning until Monday. Lt. Gary Marchese, the commander of the NOPD’s homicide division, said police do not believe any of the incidents were connected. Motives in the incidents ranged from domestic disturbances turned deadly to spontaneous disputes that got out of control.

“None of them are related,” he said. “There is no correlation between the cases.”

The largest number of casualties occurred in an incident that happened early Saturday morning. Police said that Larry “Sly” Haynes shot and killed his girlfriend Tiara Reynolds, 32, in the 2800 block of South Roman Street after an argument at about 2:30 a.m. Haynes and Reynolds were arguing, and Haynes became so enraged that he pulled out a handgun and killed Reynolds on the sidewalk in front of the home, police said.

Police also said that Haynes, 38, shot two other men and one other woman. One of those men was shot in the head and remains in critical condition.

A green van was parked in front of the two-story home where the shooting occurred on Monday. The van had a broken windshield and piles of broken glass lay on a driveway. Reynolds was shot in front of two homes where her family lived. A woman who identified herself as Reynolds’ sister declined to speak about the victim’s death, citing her emotional state.

Police are searching for Haynes and said there is a warrant for his arrest. Police said Haynes has prior arrests for murder, domestic violence and narcotics possession.

About a half hour before the quadruple shooting, police were called to the 4300 block of Downman Road, where they found Tyron Quinn, 28, shot outside on the ground. Marchese said detectives believe Quinn was shot after an argument inside a nearby lounge. He died at a local hospital. The incident happened a few yards from the popular Visions Night Club.

Marchese said detectives have identified a possible suspect and are assembling a photo lineup with the hope of making an arrest.

The other fatal shooting over the weekend involved two 16-year-olds who were playing with a handgun in the 2400 block of Odin Street on Saturday afternoon. Hakeem Green was killed in that incident, and police have booked a 16-year-old boy with negligent homicide. It appears one of the boys retrieved the gun to play with, thinking it was unloaded, and it accidentally discharged. No one answered the door at the home where the shooting occurred Monday.

Police investigated two more shootings Sunday afternoon and early Monday morning. The first incident happened near the intersection of St. Bernard Avenue and North Villere Street. An 18-year-old man was walking in the area shortly before 2 p.m. when he heard gunshots and realized he’d been shot in the hand and hip.

The other shooting was reported in the 1900 block of Seventh Street at about 1:30 a.m. In that incident, an unidentified 31-year-old woman was shot multiple times while inside a home and was listed in critical condition.

Late Monday evening, police reported that a man was shot in the face in the 800 block of Broad. No other details were available by press time.

In addition to the shootings, there were several stabbings, some of them serious and others minor. Jerell Miller, 35, was killed in a stabbing in the 500 block of South Miro Street on Sunday morning.

Police say Miller forced his way into a home and stabbed a 41-year-old woman in the face, and then started beating her. Another woman armed herself with a pot, and somehow Miller was stabbed in the melee. Marchese said that the Police Department has ruled that homicide as justifiable but has turned the results of its investigation over to the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office.

On Sunday afternoon, police were called out the 4500 block of Haynes Boulevard, right across from a playground, to handle a stabbing.

In that incident, police said a 16-year-old boy was stabbed after a fight.

The incident happened around 3 p.m., and police said that the 16-year-old argued with an unidentified individual who used a Taser on the boy.

After that, the man took a knife from a woman also on the scene and stabbed the boy in the chest. The teenager was in critical condition. Police are searching for the man and the woman and released a video Sunday night showing the incident.

Also on Sunday night, police said that Kim Dumas, 39, stabbed another woman with a broken bottle inside of Chartres Street bar. Police said that Dumas and the other woman fought shortly before 7:30 p.m. During the fight, police said, Dumas broke a wine bottle and cut the woman on the chest.
The wounds were not serious, but Dumas fled the scene.

When police caught her a few blocks away, they said she made an incriminating statement.
Police also investigated armed robberies in eastern New Orleans, Algiers and Gentilly.

In one of those incidents on Pratt Drive, a man was robbed while hanging Christmas lights by several men who also burglarized his home.