‘That’s somebody’s child.’ 17-year-old among two shot dead in New Orleans, police say

A 17-year-old girl and a man were shot and killed in one of New Orleans’ historic neighborhoods near the French Quarter, police said.

Videos show a vibrant second line parade passing through the nearby ninth ward on Nov. 19, but the day took a gruesome turn around 7 p.m.

Now, Louisiana investigators are searching for those responsible.

That evening, police responded to shots fired underneath an overpass in the Tremé neighborhood, according to a Nov. 20 news release from the New Orleans Police Department.

Emergency medical services took the 17-year-old to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The adult man died at the scene, police said.

The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office identified the victims as Layla Scott, 17, and Ahmontae Wishom, 24. Their preliminary causes of death were both gunshot wounds.

“This was not suppose to happen to you,” one person wrote on Facebook about Wishom. “You loved your family soooo much cousin I never seen you angry. The bond we shared was suppose to be unbreakable.”

Another person wrote the family was hurting, but they wouldn’t let up until they had justice.

A woman came over to the scene when she heard the commotion and tried to perform CPR on the teen, WWLTV reported.

“I’m so sorry the city did this to her,” Derranae Wilford, who rushed to provide aid, told WDSU. “She wasn’t nothing but a baby.”

Wilford said the teenager still had a pulse when she arrived, so she began performing CPR as “everybody just recorded,” she said.

Police are asking anyone with information to come forward.

“That’s somebody’s child and you don’t want your child like that,” Wilford told WDSU.

This story was originally published November 21, 2023 at 2:13 PM with the headline "‘That’s somebody’s child.’ 17-year-old among two shot dead in New Orleans, police say."