Do women feel safe in New Orleans? Longtime resident says many are scared amid rising crime rates
NEW ORLEANS — Amid the rise in violent crime in New Orleans, women have begun to fear leaving their homes alone at night, a longtime resident told Fox News.“Women are scared,” Eileen Carter, who ha… A longtime resident in New Orleans has revealed that many women are scared to leave their homes alone due to rising crime rates in the city. The city had briefly become the nation's homicide capital in September, with 119 homicides recorded in three years. In 2022, there were 37 reported female murder victims at the Big Easy, the highest number since 1996. A recall campaign against New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell was quashed after Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the campaign was short of nearly 18,000 signatures to force a referendum. According to police data compiled by Nola.com, at least eight shootings occurred on I-10 in the first two months of 2023.
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NEW ORLEANS — Amid the rise in violent crime in New Orleans, women have begun to fear leaving their homes alone at night, a longtime resident told Fox News.
“Women are scared,” Eileen Carter, who has lived in New Orleans most of her life, told Fox News. “Women are indoors after dark.”
Police officers collect evidence at the scene of a shooting that took place during the Krewe of Bacchus parade February 19, 2023 in New Orleans. (Photo by Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)
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Violent crime has increased dramatically in New Orleans in recent years. The city had among major US cities in September, briefly earning it the title of the nation’s homicide capital. Just three years earlier, New Orleans recorded its lowest number of homicides — 119 — in nearly half a century.
“We’re Gotham down here,” Carter previously told Fox News. “It’s sad to say, but that’s what we call ourselves.”
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Carjacking and armed robbery also skyrocketed in 2022, though both are down this year, according to the New Orleans City Council. And more than 50 people were killed since the beginning of the year in step with the increase in homicides in the last year.
“People are scared,” Carter said. “People are afraid.”
Carter launched a recall campaign against New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell in August 2022. The organizer of the recall told Fox News she launched the effort in response to the mayor’s inaction on the city’s many problems, including rising violent crime and crumbling infrastructure.
But the recall was quashed on Tuesday after Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the campaign was short of nearly 18,000 signatures to force a referendum.
“The city is out of control because there’s crime everywhere,” a New Orleans woman said in a video posted to the No LaToya recall campaign Twitter. “I’m afraid to leave my house.”
Carter told Fox News that some women go to the gas station or to the grocery store with male relatives because they are afraid to go alone.
In 2022, there were 37 reported female murder victims at the Big Easy, the highest number since 1996, according to the New Orleans City Council. One victim, a grandmother, was shot while visiting the city during a Mardi Gras parade. The 50-year-old had moved out of town to escape the crime wave of 2022 after her son was killed at gunpoint, according to a family member speaking to a CBS affiliate.
“We don’t want to live like this anymore,” Carter said. “We only want to feel safe when we sit red on the right. Someone was shot while driving at a red light on I-10.”
At least eight shootings occurred on I-10 in New Orleans in the first two months of 2023. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)
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According to police data compiled by Nola.com, at least eight shootings occurred on New Orleans’ I-10 freeway in the first two months of the year. In a shootout that killed an Uber driver and his passenger, police later identified the suspect as a convicted felon who was out on bail for another crime – and equipped with an ankle monitor.
“New Orleanians, we’re pretty resilient, and quite frankly, we’re tired of being resilient,” Carter previously told Fox News. “We want to be successful and we deserve that.”
Topics: Louisiana, New Orleans