A line cook who had been sleeping in his parked car on the 2000 block of General Pershing Street was shot in the back and arm early Thursday after he confronted three people trying to break into vehicles on the block, according to New Orleans police. The victim yelled at the suspects to scare them off after one pulled on his car door handle, then was shot as he turned to leave, and he ran several blocks before officers found him and got him to a hospital.
According to WVUE FOX 8, the shooting happened around 12:05 a.m. near Danneel Street, and surveillance video captured the victim yelling at the suspects to leave residents alone before one of them opened fire. The station reports the victim was struck in the back and arm, and he later said a bullet grazed his liver before exiting his chest. Police transported him to University Medical Center for emergency treatment, and as of the station's report, he expects to be discharged soon. Separately, CrimeLocal reports that officers responding to the aggravated battery by shooting located the injured victim nearby before EMS arrived.
Neighbors Had Already Taken Him In
Neal Ryan, a neighbor on the block, told the station he had noticed the victim regularly sleeping in his parked car about three weeks earlier. Rather than treat him as a stranger, Ryan and other neighbors welcomed him onto the block, offering him water and help washing his car; the station's report notes that Ryan's oldest son even gave the victim birthday gift cards. Ryan told the outlet he heard gunfire just after midnight, and said the shooting made his heart sink.
The victim worked as a line cook at a nearby establishment and was, in the outlet's words, between housing. Neighbors have since launched an online fundraising campaign to help cover his medical expenses, car repairs, and housing during his recovery, per the same account. Fox 8 is not revealing the victim's name.
Teen Suspect Faces Adult Charges Under Changed Louisiana Law
Police booked 19-year-old Khaleef Conerly and 17-year-old Caydin Smith with attempted second-degree murder, according to the station. Fox 8 also identified a 12-year-old in its narrative. Conerly and Smith are under investigation by NOPD for a reported auto burglary near Second and Carondelet streets that same night.
Because Smith is 17, he is being prosecuted as an adult rather than routed through juvenile court. Under Louisiana legislation enacted in 2024 that repealed the state's 2019 Raise the Age law, 17-year-old suspects are automatically charged and prosecuted as adults, according to Youth Today, which notes Louisiana is one of only four states with automatic adult jurisdiction for 17-year-olds. Under Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:27 and 14:30.1, a conviction for attempted second-degree murder carries a statutory penalty of 10 to 50 years at hard labor without the possibility of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, per FindLaw. The applicable statute provides for hard-labor terms in such cases.
Violent Crime Down, But Auto Burglaries Persist Uptown
The shooting comes even as violent crime has fallen sharply across the city. Metropolitan Crime Commission data through early September shows nonfatal shootings in Orleans Parish down 22% year-over-year to 109 incidents, while homicides fell 34% to 60, according to the Metrocrime Weekly Crime Bulletin. Public crime data covering the 12 months ending in August similarly ranks the Audubon and Uptown neighborhoods among the safest parts of the city, with a violent crime rate between 0.2 and 1.5 per 1,000 residents compared to a citywide rate of 6.4.
Yet auto burglary remains a stubborn quality-of-life problem on streets like Freret where vehicles sit parked overnight, a pattern Hoodline has covered before.
Housing Instability Behind the Wheel
The victim's situation, sleeping in his car between more permanent housing while working as a line cook, shows how a personal car can serve as both transportation and shelter.
