10 year old boy among 7 shot in 24 hours

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Two people are dead and five are injured after at least seven shootings over 24 hours. Two of the injured are children, a 15-year-old girl, and a 10-year-old boy.

The 10-year-old was shot in the 2600 block of North Claiborne around 9:20 p.m.

“I’m begging to the ambulance, somebody get here, please, he’s only 10,” a neighbor said.

Her voice strained and trembling from all the crying, this neighbor is furious. A little 10-year-old boy, just playing outside, caught a bullet not meant for him.

“I thought he died because his head went down and he didn’t wake back up and they tapped on him to keep checking him and he didn’t wake up,” she said through tears.

Just 15 minutes before the 10-year-old, a 15-year-old girl was shot in the 2700 block of New Orleans Street and taken to the hospital.

“This is the 5th district, come check on your people over here, it isn’t just about Uptown,” the neighbor said.

The 10-year-old was the second time an innocent was hit by gunfire in the St. Claude neighborhood this week. A construction worker, Ronnie Bonilla, 29, was killed Monday on Franklin Avenue.

In the case of the 10-year-old, according to court documents, Police say Helena McQueen was feuding with the boy’s family and police say it was her boyfriend who shot at the boy’s uncle while he walked his nephew home, except that shot hit the boy in his left side.

“To see this baby fall down on my porch and he hollering for help, ‘help me, they shot me, they shot me,’” the neighbor recalled as she broke down again.

Police say the uncle told them McQueen was smiling after her boyfriend fired.

She came back to the scene while police were there, was pointed out by the family, and was arrested.

She told the police, “You know how it goes in New Orleans.”

“They need to find him,” the neighbor said about the shooter. “You got one rabbit, the other one down the hole.”

The man who fired the shot is still at large while the boy fights it out through surgeries, his family doesn’t know if he’s paralyzed, according to the neighbor.

“We need somebody to come talk to these kids, they need counseling,” she said. “Hell, I need counseling! This is crazy. I’m not going to be sleeping for a minute.”

McQueen is charged with principal to aggravated battery and principal to aggravated assault with a firearm.

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