Citizen Crime Watch Blog

March honors fallen officer
by Molly Reid, The Times-Picayune
Saturday June 21, 2008, 10:45 AM

More than 70 marchers are making their way from City Hall to a Central City elementary school to protest street violence and honor fallen New Orleans police officer Nicola Cotton, who was killed January in the line of duty.

After a brief prayer, the marchers set off from City Hall down Loyola Avenue, with several children holding a banner proclaiming “Youth Against Violence.”

When they reach their destination — Mahalia Jackson Elementary on Jackson Avenue — the group will dedicate a playground erected by the nonprofit builder KaBOOM! in Cotton’s memory.

“We want children to learn other ways to solve conflict,” said Travis Lyons, founder of Central City Youth Against Violence, which organized the march.

Cotton, who was 24 when she died, “was one of the people who mentored the kids on the street,” Lyons said. “If she saw them out, she ran them off, got them off the corners. And she was young. She was just a kid herself.”

Saturday’s event marked the Central City organization’s ninth annual non-violence march. In addition to members from several community groups, including the Central City Partnership and the Central City Comeback Committee, City Council members Stacy Head and James Carter participated in the march.

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Sixth District E-Mail Blast:

On Tuesday, March 11, 2008, at about 9:20 am, there was a robbery in the 1900 block of Magazine Street. As the victim was attempting to enter a building in the block, the perpetrator approached from the rear, placed a handgun in the victim’s back and demanded her property. The victim turned over her purse containing personal belongings and the perpetrator fled the scene in an uptown direction on Magazine Street . The perpetrator was described as a black female, 23-25 yrs old, 5’3” to 5’4”, 120 pounds, medium build, light complexion, wearing a brown colored sweatshirt with a pull over hood.

A computer generated composite was completed with the victim and is attached to this e-mail. If anyone has information concerning this incident, please contact the New Orleans Police Department at 821-2222 for non emergency response and 911 for emergencies.

Lieutenant Michael Lohman
Sixth District Investigative Unit