RustyHammer
Member
Teenager booked in N.O. shooting
Customer was killed at Mid-City laundry
Tuesday December 30, 2003
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/neworleans/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1072769166274100.xml
By Susan Finch
Staff Writer
A 16-year-old boy was booked Monday with first-degree murder and armed robbery after ballistics tests linked him to a failed robbery at a Mid-City self-service laundry that left one customer dead.
Garry Hayes, 42, was killed Saturday morning by a stray bullet after the owner of the Washateria 7 fired several shots at two masked gunmen attempting to rob the business at 3600 Cleveland Ave. Police believe Hayes was accidentally killed by the laundry's owner, whose identity is being withheld by police.
The owner, 58, has not been arrested, but the New Orleans Police Department will consult with the district attorney's office about possible charges, police spokesman Marlon Defillo said Monday.
Detectives Christopher Martin and Mitch Weatherly are searching for a second male suspect, as well as a third who may have driven a getaway car after the 8 a.m. shooting, police said.
The 16-year-old, whose identity is also being withheld by police, became a suspect after he showed up at Charity Hospital Saturday morning with a gunshot wound to his left arm and a bullet lodged in his left shoulder.
Police had suspected one of the robbers was wounded. They began questioning him about the laundry shootings after he gave conflicting accounts of how and where he'd been shot, Defillo said.
The boy had a small amount of crack cocaine and marijuana, and he was on probation from a previous narcotics conviction, Defillo said. He was also booked with drug possession and probation violation.
He was held at Charity while police got a search warrant allowing them to retrieve the bullet from his body, Defillo said. It was surgically removed Sunday, he said.
Hayes, who had worked as a cook for more than 20 years at Mandina's restaurant on Canal Street, lived about a block from the laundry. He was one of two customers in the laundry when the two gunmen attempted to rob it.
The gunmen partially kicked in the door of a glass-enclosed booth where the owner and a 70-year-old cashier were working. One of the gunmen leaned over the damaged door, held a gun to the cashier's face and demanded money, police said.
Fearing that the gunmen were about to shoot the cashier, the owner grabbed a .38-caliber revolver he kept in the office and fired several shots, police said. Police said they have no evidence that either gunmen fired, but they said anyone who commits a felony that results in the death of someone else can be booked with murder..
Investigators said Hayes may have walked toward the enclosed booth just seconds before the robbers entered the laundry. After he was struck by a bullet, he stumbled out, collapsed on the sidewalk and died.
Orleans Parish Juvenile Court Judge Mark Doherty will hold a hearing this morning to determine if there is probable cause to charge the 16-year-old with first- or second-degree murder, Defillo said.
If Doherty decides probable cause exists, the district attorney's office will decide whether the teen should be tried as an adult, spokeswoman Melanie Roussel said.
Customer was killed at Mid-City laundry
Tuesday December 30, 2003
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/neworleans/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1072769166274100.xml
By Susan Finch
Staff Writer
A 16-year-old boy was booked Monday with first-degree murder and armed robbery after ballistics tests linked him to a failed robbery at a Mid-City self-service laundry that left one customer dead.
Garry Hayes, 42, was killed Saturday morning by a stray bullet after the owner of the Washateria 7 fired several shots at two masked gunmen attempting to rob the business at 3600 Cleveland Ave. Police believe Hayes was accidentally killed by the laundry's owner, whose identity is being withheld by police.
The owner, 58, has not been arrested, but the New Orleans Police Department will consult with the district attorney's office about possible charges, police spokesman Marlon Defillo said Monday.
Detectives Christopher Martin and Mitch Weatherly are searching for a second male suspect, as well as a third who may have driven a getaway car after the 8 a.m. shooting, police said.
The 16-year-old, whose identity is also being withheld by police, became a suspect after he showed up at Charity Hospital Saturday morning with a gunshot wound to his left arm and a bullet lodged in his left shoulder.
Police had suspected one of the robbers was wounded. They began questioning him about the laundry shootings after he gave conflicting accounts of how and where he'd been shot, Defillo said.
The boy had a small amount of crack cocaine and marijuana, and he was on probation from a previous narcotics conviction, Defillo said. He was also booked with drug possession and probation violation.
He was held at Charity while police got a search warrant allowing them to retrieve the bullet from his body, Defillo said. It was surgically removed Sunday, he said.
Hayes, who had worked as a cook for more than 20 years at Mandina's restaurant on Canal Street, lived about a block from the laundry. He was one of two customers in the laundry when the two gunmen attempted to rob it.
The gunmen partially kicked in the door of a glass-enclosed booth where the owner and a 70-year-old cashier were working. One of the gunmen leaned over the damaged door, held a gun to the cashier's face and demanded money, police said.
Fearing that the gunmen were about to shoot the cashier, the owner grabbed a .38-caliber revolver he kept in the office and fired several shots, police said. Police said they have no evidence that either gunmen fired, but they said anyone who commits a felony that results in the death of someone else can be booked with murder..
Investigators said Hayes may have walked toward the enclosed booth just seconds before the robbers entered the laundry. After he was struck by a bullet, he stumbled out, collapsed on the sidewalk and died.
Orleans Parish Juvenile Court Judge Mark Doherty will hold a hearing this morning to determine if there is probable cause to charge the 16-year-old with first- or second-degree murder, Defillo said.
If Doherty decides probable cause exists, the district attorney's office will decide whether the teen should be tried as an adult, spokeswoman Melanie Roussel said.
