Citizen Crime Watch Blog

Grieving father pleads for information
His 17-year-old son was shot on the street
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
By Brendan McCarthy
The Times-Picayune

A slain teenager’s father stood on a 7th Ward street corner Tuesday afternoon and pleaded for help.

His son, Lance Zarders, 17, was gunned down last month in the street, the victim of a drive-by shooting.

New Orleans police have arrested a 15-year-old boy in the case, but both Lionel Zarders and detectives have questions: Who was driving the dark-colored vehicle leaving the scene? Who else helped unload several rounds of gunfire as Lance Zarders walked down the street?

In a quest for answers, the reward for information on the case has been upped to $12,500 from the standard $2,500. Lance Zarder’s family, Crimestoppers and the detectives on the case announced the increase Tuesday at the site of the slaying.

“All we can ask for is justice,” Lionel Zarders said. He talked of how his son was a student at Frederick Douglass High School and aimed to attend vocational school.

[more]

Silence is Violence and the Dinerral Shavers Educational Fund are hosting a benefit at Tipitina’s tonight with the Hot 8 Brass Band, Soul Rebels Brass Band, Rebirth Brass Band, Shamarr Allen, and the Rabouin Marching Band.

Tickets cost $15 and will benefit the Dinerral Shavers Educational Fund.

Friday, 1/11/08, 9 p.m., Howlin’ Wolf

Award in Helen Hill case increased to $15,000
Groups seek help solving filmmaker’s shooting death
The Times-Picayune
Saturday, September 15, 2007
By Daniel Monteverde
Staff writer

Nearly eight months after friends and family of Helen Hill organized an anti-violence march on City Hall, they came together again Friday to announce an increased reward for information in the case.

Hill was shot and killed Jan. 4 at about 5:30 a.m., the sixth shooting victim in a 24-hour span. When police arrived at the Faubourg Marigny home of Hill and her husband, Paul Gailiunas, they found Hill dead and Gailiunas shot three times, clutching the couple’s 2-year-old son.

What they couldn’t find was a suspect or motive. Gailiunas told police that a stranger had invaded the house, killed his wife and shot him.

While police have received some tips, NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley said Friday that none have proved concrete.

Now, with a reward of $15,000 — increased from $3,500 — police, Crimestoppers, Silence Is Violence and Hill’s family hope someone with information or evidence of who committed the crime will come forward.

Riley and Hill’s brother, Jake Hill, said they believe there are people in the city who know something that can lead to an arrest.

Speaking at the Sound Cafe — where the January march was organized after the killings of Hill and Dinerral Shavers, a band director and drummer for the Hot 8 brass band — Jake Hill pleaded for help in the case.

“With all of us working together, I believe we will solve this,” he said.

He said the cafe would become a clearinghouse of sorts for information on his sister, with fliers announcing the reward kept there.

Detective Erbin Bush told a small group that mingled around the cafe to distribute fliers widely, because a person with information might live outside the area of the crime.

Riley said while the case remains open, detectives continue a “relentless effort” in their search for new clues or suspects. He said detectives will fly this weekend to Washington, D.C., to tape a segment about the case for “America’s Most Wanted.”

“We’re doing everything we can to bring forth additional witnesses,” Riley said. “At some point we will, in fact, clear this case.”

While Jake Hill said he doesn’t know whether the increased reward, raised at his request through additional Crimestoppers money and new donations, will lead to new clues or even bring an end to the case, he said he knows it can help keep it alive.

“Money talks often times and we want to make sure everyone in New Orleans knows we’re still looking for information,” he said.

Darlene Cusanza, executive director of Crimestoppers, also announced a second reward increase for information that leads to the arrest of a suspect in the killing of Anthony White.

Cusanza said the reward has been raised to $10,000.

White, a Pineville engineer working as a construction inspector for the government at two federal buildings downtown, was shot in the face July 26 at about 3 a.m. He had just returned from work to his temporary home in the 8400 block of Panola Street.

. . . . . . .

Anyone with information on the killings of Helen Hill or Anthony White is asked to call Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111 or toll-free at (877) 903-7867. Callers do not have to give their names or testify and can earn up to $2,500 for tips that lead to an indictment.

Daniel Monteverde can be reached at dmonteverde@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3452.

Living legacy
The shot that killed musician Dinerral Shavers left a gaping hole in the life of his family
The Times-Picayune
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
By Michelle J. Nealy

Photo: Ted Jackson / The Times-Picayune

Dinerral Shavers Jr. wakes up most days and puts on one of his four memorial T-shirts, emblazoned with his father’s face and snare drum, underneath his regular shirt.

Explaining the ritual one day, the 7-year-old boy told his mother: “I want to keep my dad close to my heart.”

Short for his age at just 4 feet tall, his small frame and casual grin make the boy easy to spoil, especially now that his father is gone.

Dinerral Shavers Sr., a 25-year-old band teacher and member of the Hot 8 Brass Band, was slain in December in a killing that helped galvanize New Orleanians for an anti-crime March on City Hall. DJ, as his family calls him, finds his own ways to cope, at times with animated remembrances of his father, other times withdrawing into his own quiet cocoon.

In the seven months since DJ’s father was shot twice in the head, each of his family members has dealt with the grief differently, and each has tried to help DJ and Dinerral Shavers’ two stepchildren find solace after a loss that no child can be expected to fully grasp.

For the beloved musician’s mother, the death has proved almost too much to bear, piled on top of her flood losses and her own and her daughter’s bouts with cancer. His widow struggles to provide for her children without a father and to escape the pervasive reminders of his killing. His sister took a hiatus from college and has turned to anti-crime activism. His former girlfriend, DJ’s mother, tries to help her son remember his father fondly without wallowing in the details of his death.

The December 2006 slaying has drawn more attention than most of the 162 homicides — the vast majority still unsolved — committed last year, likely because of Shavers’ membership in an iconic New Orleans band and his job as a high school band leader, as well as the fact police said he was not the intended target. …

[read the rest of the article]

Location information is critical:

· Observe where you are and the exact location of the crime. Try to remember if you have ever seen the suspect in the area before.
· Note the time as precisely as possible.
· Observe if the suspect is carrying a weapon and, if so, what type-revolver, handgun, shotgun, knife, etc.
· If the suspect leaves the scene, note the direction of flight.
· If the suspect is in a vehicle , note as much of the following information as possible: vehicle type (auto, truck, van, etc.); color; make and model; condition (dirty, damaged, etc.); and license plate numbers. Note also if the vehicle has no license plates or a “license applied for” sticker in the rear windshield.
· Watch for decoys or accomplices.

A variety of general description information about the suspect should be noted:

· Sex
· Race or national origin
· Age (estimated)
· Height: use comparisons with your own height, a door, or some other standard measure
· Weight (estimated)
· Build: fat, husky, slim, muscular, etc.

Facial information is also important:

· Hair: note the color, texture, hairline, style; also possible dyes or wigs
· Forehead: note forehead height, and whether the skin is smooth, creased or wrinkled
· Eyes: note the color, shape (round, slanted), whether clear or bloodshot, and the heaviness of eyelashes and eyebrows
· Nose: overall shape (long, wide, flat, etc.) and nostrils (wide, narrow, flared) are important
· Cheeks: is the flesh sunken, filled out, dried or oily? are there wrinkles around nose or mouth? are cheek bones high or low, wide or narrow?
· Ears: note size and prominence (protruding or flat against head)
· Mouth: are lips thin, medium, full? do corners turn up, turn down, or level?
· Chin: what is the shape (round, oval, pointed, square)? double chin, dimpled, cleft?
· Neck: note protruding Adam’s apple or hanging jowls
· Complexion: note pores, pockmarks, acne, razor rash, bumps
· Facial hair: clean shaven? unshaven? beard, mustache, goatee, sideburns?
· Tattoos: shape and style; on what part of the body

Clothing information is also very important:

· Hat: note color, style, ornaments, how it is worn (bill forward, backward, to one side)
· Coat: note color and style (suit coat, jacket, topcoat, overcoat)
· Shirt/blouse/dress: note color, design, sleeves, collar
· Trousers/slacks/skirt: note color, style, cuffs
· Socks: note color, pattern, length
· Shoes: note color, style, brand name for sneakers (if possible), condition
· Accessories: sweater, scarf, gloves, necktie
· Jewelry: rings, watches, bracelets, necklaces
· General appearance: neat or sloppy? clean or dirty?
· Oddities: look for clothing too large or too small; odd colors; patchwork

Other physical features or peculiarities:

· Voice: pitch, tone, rasp, lisp
· Speech: articulate, uneducated, accent, use of slang
· Gait: slow, fast, limp

You will never be able to remember all of these details about any one suspect you may see. But remembering as many as possible can be particularly helpful to the police and to your community.

Thom Kahler, NOcrimeline