NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans police say one person has been charged in connection with a triple murder that left seven others wounded outside a crowded daiquiri shop.
The NOPD said 32-year-old Jamal Smith faces three counts of second-degree murder and seven counts of attempted second-degree murder for the shooting that happened on July 28, 2018, in the 3400 block of South Claiborne Avenue.
Investigators say two men, one armed with an "assault rifle" and the other with two handguns, fired at 28-year-old Jeremiah Lee and shot him multiple times. Lee tried to escape, running toward a crowd of bystanders while the two gunmen "fired indiscriminately into the crowd."
Lee was an alleged gang member and the apparent target of the shooting.
In total, 10 people were shot. Three of those people died: Jeremiah Lee, 27-year-old Taiesha Watkins of Houston and 38-year-old Kurshaw Jackson were also killed.
The NOPD said that detectives received a Crimestoppers tip that Smith was one of the two gunmen in the shooting. Police later learned that he was already in jail in Jefferson Parish where he was being held on a federal weapons charge and drug and weapons charges in Jefferson Parish.
"The investigation remains open and very active with several promising avenues of inquiry," a statement from the NOPD said.
"This is another example of how we don’t stop until we bring individuals accused of violent acts to justice,"Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said.
Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact the NOPD Homicide Unit at 504-658-5300 or call Crimestoppers anonymously at 504-822-1111 and toll-free at 1-877-903-7867.
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