Tagged: police

The staggering low point of a day in which nine people were shot in New Orleans came at mid-afternoon, when a five-year-old girl and another innocent bystander were left mortally wounded outside a young boy's tenth birthday party.

The murder rate in New Orleans has consistently been well above the national average. But Mayor Mitch Landrieu is searching for answers to change that. He speaks with host Michel Martin about his five-step plan to lower the murder rate, his plans to reform the police department, and being mayor of a city in recovery.

New Orleans reportedly has the highest murder rate per capita in the U.S. Trying to make the city safer involves walking a fine line between safety, regulation, and constitutional rights. Host Michel Martin continues her conversation with Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who says he's trying to make his city safer for all residents.

New Orleans police say a 29-year-old man died after falling into a canal near Irish Bayou in New Orleans East.

Officer Garry Flot, a police spokesman, says the body of Harold Johnson of New Orleans was found Sunday afternoon, near the spot where he fell in earlier that day.

Flot says said the death will be listed as unclassified until an autopsy.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Louisiana House has agreed to rewrite the state's constitutional protections for weapon owners, striking a provision that gives the Legislature explicit authority to limit concealed handguns. Critics say the plan could lead to the nullification of most of Louisiana's gun limits.