A man was shot outside his own home in the Bywater neighborhood Friday night. When New Orleans police arrived, they found him suffering from a gunshot wound; he was taken to the hospital by private vehicle. Officers responding to the area near Poland Avenue and North Derbigny Street investigated the shooting, while the victim's exact condition remained unknown.
According to WGNO, New Orleans Police Department officers arrived near the intersection shortly before 10:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25. The victim had been standing outside his home when he heard the shots and was struck, per the outlet's report. Officers arrived and found him suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital by private conveyance, and his condition has not been released.
NOPD's Fifth District handles the St. Roch area.
A Familiar Pattern in Fifth District Cases
Friday's private transport to the hospital echoes a pattern Hoodline has tracked across multiple recent Fifth District shootings. Just over a week earlier, a victim in a St. Roch shooting on Arts Street was also gone by the time officers arrived, having been driven away before police could process the scene. That can leave investigators processing a scene without immediately interviewing the victim.
The Bywater shooting adds to a string of gunfire incidents the Fifth District has handled in September alone, including a shots-fired call that prompted officers to form a perimeter on Royal Street in Holy Cross and a Seventh Ward home invasion that sent a woman fleeing gunfire. No suspect information or motive has been released in connection with Friday's shooting, and NOPD says the investigation remains ongoing.
Citywide Numbers Show a Different Trend
Citywide homicides were down 24.0% year-to-date through Sept. 21, falling to 57 recorded incidents compared to the same period in 2025. NOPD also reported 22 homicides between May and August, the lowest total for that four-month summer stretch since at least 2019 and a 46% drop from the 41 recorded during the same period last year, according to earlier NOLA.com reporting.
Nonfatal shootings have followed a similar trajectory. The Metropolitan Crime Commission tracked 109 nonfatal shooting incidents across Orleans Parish through mid-September, a 22% decrease from the same timeframe in 2025. Those numbers align with a February survey by the New Orleans Crime Coalition, which found 87% of residents reported feeling safe in their own neighborhoods — a 12 percentage point jump from prior survey rounds. Still, isolated shootings like Friday's continue to strike residential corridors even as the citywide totals trend downward.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact CrimeStoppers of Greater New Orleans at 504-822-1111 or reach Fifth District detectives directly at 504-658-6050. NOPD says it will release additional information about the victim's condition and the investigation as it becomes available.
