Before daybreak the streets of The Marigny in New Orleans were empty — except for a man checking his cellphone and someone lurking behind him with a shotgun. The attempted robber emerged from behind a car, sneaked up to the seemingly oblivious victim just after 5 a.m. Saturday on Burgundy Street, pointed the gun into his face, took his cellphone and demanded money.
The victim batted the weapon away from his face and grabbed it with his right hand — sending the attacker running in the other direction. Though surprised, the chosen prey was not caught off guard. His snap decision suggests that this might not be the first time he has looked down the barrel of a gun.
“After he took the shotgun away, he chased the guy down the street,” Joe Bonda, whose home security camera recorded the holdup, told local station WVUE. “The guy ran right by his car, he didn’t even stop to get in his car and drive away.”
The New Orleans Police Department said that a black sedan with two men — the attacker and an accomplice — inside circled the block several times before pulling up to the victim and proposing a trade, reported The Times-Picayune.
“Give me my gun back and I’ll give you your phone that you dropped,” the driver said. No deal; instead, the victim smashed the rear windshield, officers said.
“I hope they can get the license plate off of one of the cameras,” said Bonda. “If the police can improve the video enough to get the number off the plate, then that would be great.”
A similar incident occurred the night before around 12:30 a.m. a block away from the other incident. Two young men tried to rob another person at gunpoint on Touro Street, hitting him three times, before the victim escaped without turning over anything.
