Covering Louisiana
Suspect in French Quarter shooting surrenders
Posted: Nov 4, 2011 4:07 PM by AP
Updated: Nov 4, 2011 4:32 PM
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A New Orleans teenager surrendered to police Friday to face a charge he opened fire on a tourist-filled street in the city's French Quarter, killing one man and wounding seven other people earlier this week.
Investigators obtained an arrest warrant on a murder charge for 19-year-old Marvin Carter. Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said investigators believe Carter knew the man he fatally shot, 25-year-old Albert Glover.
Glover was the intended target of the shooting after he and Carter had a confrontation on Bourbon Street early Tuesday, Serpas said.
"This wasn't a random person who was walking down the street," he added.
About three hours after Serpas named him as a suspect at a press briefing, Carter turned himself in at the city's jail, police said.
Police said his lawyer accompanied him to jail, but a department spokeswoman said she did not yet know who was representing him.
Police said both men had extensive arrest records. Carter has six felony arrests, including for carjacking and weapons charges, and six misdemeanor arrests on his record. Glover's criminal record includes five felony arrests and 17 misdemeanor arrests, according to police.
"Being a criminal is not a death sentence, but it puts you a whole lot closer," Serpas said.
Police initially said Glover may have exchanged gunfire with his assailant, but a department spokeswoman said Friday that he wasn't armed.
The gunfire broke out on a balcony-lined block famous for its bars and strip clubs, but Serpas said the shooting "could have happened on any street in the city."
"We've had millions of people come to Bourbon Street in the last 18 months, and the worst thing that happened to them was a hangover," he said.
Serpas said witness statements, CrimeStoppers phone tips and surveillance video helped police identify Carter as a suspect.
Serpas insisted New Orleans is safer than many other cities of its size, despite its high homicide rate. But he said it's a black mark for the city's criminal justice system that Carter and Glover have been arrested so many times without facing any "real punishment for their behavior."
"Why are people with extensive criminal records being sent back to the streets to become either victims of murder or murderers?" he asked.
KATC.com is Social!
KATC Videos
Comments