Poll: Did you know that 17 people were shot at a New Orleans playground a week ago?

I didn’t know until just now.

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/11/bunny_friend_shooting_suspect_1.html

New Orleans playground shooting suspect has long rap sheet

November 27, 2015

New Orleans police were hunting Friday (Nov. 27) for Joseph “Moe” Allen, 32, the first suspect to be named in the Bunny Friend Park shooting that injured 17 people. And they are pleading for people who were at the Upper 9th Ward playground to come forward with information.

Despite the crowds at the park when the gunfire erupted Sunday evening, no one there had sent videos to police, Mayor Mitch Landrieu said. “And everyone knows there are lots,” he said.

“We need videos. We need photos. We need people to come forward,” police Superintendent Michael Harrison said.

Two groups of people turned their guns on each other, and police found as many as 70 bullet casings just the next morning. No shooters other than Allen have been identified by police.

“This is just the first shoe to drop,” Landrieu said. “We are going to do everything we can to make sure all the other shoes drop as well.”

The mayor warned that anyone harboring Allen also will be prosecuted. “All of us are going to work around the clock,” Harrison promised.

Allen, 32, faces 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder. Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office records show he is a convicted felon with a rap sheet dating from 2002. It includes home invasion, carjacking, illegal carrying of weapon and possession of cocaine and heroin.

At a Friday afternooon news conference, officials sidestepped several questions, including whether they had identified the musical group that was said to be recording a video at the park at the time of the shooting and whether Allen belonged to the gang family that includes the father of murdered 5-year-old Briana Allen.

However, Harrison did say Allen has ties to more than one group. Sheriff’s Office records show Allen was arrested in 2002 with Travis Scott, who recently pleaded guilty to a federal racketeering charge as the ringleader of the FnD gang, named for Frenchmen and Derbigny streets.

Harrison said all but one or two of the Bunny Friend Park victims were in “fair to good condition,” and no one’s wounds were life-threatening. “We are so glad that it wasn’t worse,” he said.