Nine shootings in the span of just one day that left at least three people dead have pushed the homicide rate in New Orleans to levels not seen since the 1990s.
The city has seen 277 killings this year, the most since 1996, FOX 8 New Orleans reported.
One of the most recent slayings occurred Wednesday night where a 29-year-old man was shot and killed while sitting in a vehicle and a 16-year-old boy was injured.
EMBATTLED NEW ORLEANS MAYOR APPOINTS INTERIM POLICE CHIEF AMID CRIME SURGE, RECALL EFFORT
Police vehicles block access to Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. The city has seen an increase in murders in 2022.
(Bryan Tarnowski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Another shooting in the French Quarter claimed the life of a man who was shot multiple times. A 16-year-old suspect was taken into police custody a few blocks away on suspicion of second-degree murder.
The violence comes as Mayor LaToya Cantrell is facing mounting criticism over the uptick in crime.
“And still @mayorcantrell with no plan,” Eileen Carter, who is leading a recall effort against Cantrell, tweeted Thursday in response to the latest killings.
“The city is her responsibility… drive around the city… read the crime stats… the condition of the city has nothing to do with being a black woman & everything to do with her poor leadership & skill set… she IS NOT the woman for this hour to help NOLA… unfortunately,” Carter wrote in a subsequent tweet.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Michelle Woodfork, the recently appointed interim police chief, said she was working to change the police department’s culture amid high attrition rates and is working to address the city’s crime woes.
“I want the citizens to know that I definitely, definitely [am] concerned about their safety and about their quality of life,” she told WGNO-TV. “I’m one of them. I live here. I have the same probably frumps and gripes about a lot of different things.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Cantrell’s office and the New Orleans Police Department.
