A 47-year-old New Orleans man is facing an aggravated assault charge after investigators say he pulled a gun on a neighbor, fired his rifle multiple times, and struck the victim's car during a confrontation on the 2100 block of Saint Maurice Street last Saturday. When New Orleans Police Department detectives finally tracked Somige Augustine down at an undisclosed address in New Orleans East, they say they found something else waiting inside: seven firearms and a stash of narcotics.
According to WDSU, police say Augustine threatened the victim with a gun before firing his rifle multiple times on August 8, with one round hitting the victim's vehicle. Investigators identified Augustine as the suspect and obtained an arrest warrant, then located him in New Orleans East, where officers reported finding the seven firearms and narcotics inside the residence where he was staying. He was booked with aggravated assault and aggravated criminal damage to property.
The aggravated criminal damage charge alone carries significant weight under Louisiana law. Louisiana Revised Statutes § 14:55 defines aggravated criminal damage to property as intentionally damaging a structure or movable property where it's foreseeable that human life could be endangered, a felony punishable by one to 15 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000, according to the Louisiana State Legislature.
Firearm Involvement Could Escalate Charges
The involvement of a firearm in the alleged assault also matters for how prosecutors could ultimately charge the case. While a basic aggravated assault charge in Louisiana is a misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail, aggravated assault committed with a firearm becomes a felony under La. R.S. § 14:37.4, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and fines as high as $10,000, per Phillips Law.
The seven firearms and narcotics recovered at the New Orleans East residence could open the door to additional, more severe charges as well. Louisiana Revised Statutes § 14:95(E) imposes a mandatory minimum sentence of five to 10 years at hard labor, without the possibility of probation, parole, or a suspended sentence, for anyone caught possessing a firearm while also unlawfully possessing a controlled dangerous substance, according to the same firm. It remains unclear whether the District Attorney's Office plans to pursue that or other enhanced charges tied to the weapons and narcotics found alongside Augustine.
A Block With a Violent History
The address where the alleged shooting happened sits within NOPD's Fifth District, an 8.7-square-mile patrol area covering the Upper Ninth Ward, Holy Cross, and Bywater neighborhoods and serving more than 28,000 residents from its station on North Claiborne Avenue, according to the City of New Orleans. The nearby 2000 block of the same street was the site of a far deadlier incident on Christmas Day in 2022, when a shooting left two people dead and four others injured, eventually leading to a multi-agency arrest involving NOPD's Violent Offender Warrant Squad and U.S. Marshals in January 2023.
The Fifth District leans on Police Community Advisory Boards and anti-crime coalitions to steer neighborhood safety priorities, with a specific focus on curbing illegal drug dealing and gun violence in the Ninth Ward, per the City of New Orleans. That community-input model has shaped how the district allocates patrols and outreach in areas like Saint Maurice Street.
Case Fits Into Citywide Crime Trends
Augustine's arrest also lands amid a broader stretch of falling violent crime numbers across New Orleans. First-quarter 2026 public safety data released by NOPD showed a 67 percent drop in homicides over a three-year span, part of a multi-year decline citywide. By late June, the city had recorded just 38 homicides, putting it on pace for its lowest annual murder total since 1969, while armed robberies had fallen 62 percent compared to the same stretch in 2023, according to Police1.
Officers have continued pulling guns off the street even as overall violence trends downward. Through late August 2025, NOPD seized 1,236 firearms and made 190 arrests for illegal firearm possession, though that seizure count marked a 21 percent decrease from the year before, department statistics show. Orleans Parish law enforcement leaders outlined a joint strategy earlier this year emphasizing multi-agency task forces to track down repeat violent offenders and serve outstanding warrants across parish lines, according to the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office, a coordination model that mirrors how detectives located Augustine across town in New Orleans East.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact NOPD Fifth District detectives at 504-658-6050. Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Crimestoppers of Greater New Orleans at 504-822-1111 or online at crimestoppersgno.org.
