Man robbed at gunpoint while putting air in his tires in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Just before 10 p.m. Monday night, a grey car pulled into the Exxon gas station in the 4100 block of South Claiborne. A man with a gun got out and approached another man, who was putting air in his tires.

“He told us, they pulled a gun on him. He tried to go back to the car, and the guy put the gun to him to move away from the car,” a gas station employee says.

Police say the victim tried to pull the gunman out of his car when a second gunman ran over. The victim backed off and the suspects took off in his blue Toyota Camry. The gas station worker says the victim, visibly upset, ran inside and told them what happened.

“The man was shaking. The man almost had a heart attack over it,” the employee said.

“I do wish more was done about it,” says Reverto White.

White was putting air in his tires and said he wasn’t at all surprised by what happened.

“It’s happening all over the city,” says White.

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“This happens all the time. About 15 days ago, it also happened,” says the worker.

The station worker says on average, there’s an incident every two weeks.

According to the city’s calls for service data, armed robbery is up 22% across New Orleans.

Customers say they’re tired of living in fear.

“It’s out of hand, out of control. It’s like nobody can do anything about it,” says Deddrick Pierre.

“The police have to do something. The police have to have more. They need to be in the city and at the gas station,” says the worker.

The worker tells FOX 8, he believes police presence would make a difference.

Others believe more should be done to address the reason why the crime is happening.

“For me, it’s more about the systemic problems that people are dealing with right now. Target the problems that create the violence or the things that make people scared,” says Sophie Zaken.

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