The 19-year-old man who was the subject of a police manhunt in New Orleans in connection with the Mother’s Day parade shooting that injured 19 people has finally been apprehended, police announced yesterday.
New Orleans police didn’t release many details in the case, but they announced on the department’s Facebook page that Akein Scott had been taken into custody. A report by WDSU said that a SWAT team was used in the apprehension of the teen in east New Orleans on Wednesday night.
Scott was identified by police Monday after footage of the shooting was released that showed a man standing at the outskirts of a packed parade, then charging toward the crowd. The video showed the panicked crowd scrambling for cover as the man runs away, leaving people and bicycles scattered on the ground behind him.
When he released Scott’s name, New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said Scott has a criminal background that includes resisting arrest and possession of a firearm.
“I want to remind you that two children were struck in this incident,” he said. ”And if you choose not to tell the police what you know, then you’re choosing to stand with those who shot those children.”
While most of the injuries weren’t life-threatening, a man and a woman reportedly required surgery on Sunday night.
The shooting occurred in the 7th Ward, about a mile and a half from the heart of the French Quarter and on the edges of the neighborhood dramatized in the fictional HBO series “Treme.”
New Orleans Police Department spokeswoman Remi Braden said many of the victims were grazed, some by bullets that ricocheted.
“At this point, there are no fatalities, and most of the wounds are not life-threatening,” she told the New Orleans Times Picayune by email.
Police said 10 adult men, seven adult women, a 10-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl were struck by bullets. The 10-year-olds had graze wounds to the body and were in good condition.
