Would-be carjacker shot by intended victim in Bywater

A would-be carjacker remained hospitalized Friday in New Orleans after his intended victim shot him in the neck.

The wounded 17-year-old arrived unresponsive Thursday night at Tulane Medical Center, where police also found his alleged accomplice in the botched Bywater theft, a law enforcement source said. The second suspect, also 17, reportedly admitted participating in the crime, the source said, and the Police Department planned to book both with armed robbery and illegal possession of a gun.

The crime was reported in the 500 block of Louisa Street. Police arrived at 7:08 p.m., 10 minutes after being called, according to publicly available data.

There, the two teens targeted a 48-year-old man who had gotten out of his vehicle and was walking toward his house, the source said. The teens drove their own vehicle in reverse down the man’s street, and one got out of the passenger seat, pointed a gun at the man and demanded his keys.

The man told police he flung his keys, took cover under a nearby car and pulled out a pistol. He said he saw one teen by his vehicle, pointing a gun at him. The man told police he fired a single gunshot at the teen then ran for his house.

He said he heard someone scream an expletive, then both teens drove away on Louisa in their vehicle.

The teens picked up a third person then went to the hospital. There police seized two pistols, one of them stolen, from the accomplice, who told officers the guns belonged to him and the wounded suspect.

A single shot
The suspected accomplice was with his grandmother at the hospital, and both agreed to interviews, the law enforcement source said.

At the scene of the crime, police found evidence of a single gunshot.

Since May, four people have had their vehicles stolen at gunpoint, by force or intimidation in the 500 through 900 blocks of Louisa Street, according to the Police Department’s major offense log, and two people were victims of attempted carjackings there, making it one of the busiest stretches in one of the busiest neighborhoods for carjackings.