NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — One New Orleans City Councilman says the NOPD is categorizing cases incorrectly.
J.P. Morrell says Tuesday’s shooting at Xavier Univeristy is a perfect example. He wants to know why it’s not a murder case or attempted murder.
WGNO’s legal analyst Cliff Cardone says it’s all about intention – and that’s something NOPD is still working to determine.
“When you fire a firearm into a crowd of people, I think it’s very difficult to say you did not have the intent to kill someone,” said Councilman Morrell.
“In Hammond, when they had that mass shooting at Southeastern University, when they apprehended the suspect, he was charged with two counts attempted second-degree murder,” said Councilman Morrell. “In New Orleans, when you had the attempted shooting at Xavier yesterday, the charges that were places against the suspect were two charges of aggravated battery. It’s the same circumstance.”
The report intially came in as aggravated battery by shooting. Legal analyst Cardone weighs in on what the difference between that and attempted murder or attempted homicide is.
“An aggravated battery is simply a shooting with a dangerous weapon, battery with a dangerous weapon. homicide requires specific intent,” said Cardone.
He says the key is finding intent.
“In the case of Xavier, the lady who died was shot was about a block away, so that’s going to be a very hard stretch or long stretch for the prosecution to say that perpetrator had the intent to kill that individual because she was a block away,” said Cardone.
Councilman Morrell believes once you open fire into a crowd of people the intent is to kill.
“When a gun is fired into a crowd of people, as far as anyone is concerned it should always be attempted murder or attempted manslaughter,” said Morrell. “The NOPD continually downplays how dangerous the city is by classifying attempted murder to aggravated batteries to manipulate crime stats.”