The New Orleans Police Department arrested a man on Thursday wanted in connection to a Pleasant Grove murder that occurred over Mother’s Day weekend.
A warrant was issued for 27-year-old Charlton Porter’s arrest on July 10 after he allegedly shot and killed Geoffrey McEwen on June 25 in Louisiana, reported WGNO.
However, about a month before the McEwen killing, Porter allegedly shot and killed innocent bystander Ana Moreno, 39, during a gunfight in City Council Member Adam Bazaldua’s District 7, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Moreno was taking her daughter to get a prom dress and was struck by a bullet while driving through the 2100 block of N. Masters Drive, per Fox 4 KDFW.
Jacob Faz was driving around in the area at the time of the shooting. He pulled over to help Moreno and her daughter.
“I put the shirt on the wound, I lifted her up to see if I could get a response out of her, and I couldn’t,” said Faz, according to NBC 5 DFW.
Moreno was taken to the hospital and later died from her injuries.
“It hurts. It really does hurt, because we all had such a great bond with my mom, and it hurts that we lost her so early,” said Michelle Rodriguez, Moreno’s youngest child, per NBC 5. “They took her from us, it’s not fair, she had so much potential, she was so outgoing, she was hard-working, she had everything.”
Three others were injured during the gunfight, and detectives believe the bullet that struck Moreno was from the gun Porter allegedly fired.
Porter is currently being held in St. Bernard Parish but will eventually be extradited to Dallas.
Dallas has been seeing an increase in criminal homicides recently, with an increase of 8.4% year over year as of July 17. The Dallas Police Department is also facing a serious staffing shortage, with only around 3,100 officers on hand — far fewer than the 4,000 believed to be needed to adequately police the city, per a City analysis.
Nearby cities like Fort Worth have deployed special crime units in certain parts of town. Consequently, Fort Worth’s downtown area has reportedly been experiencing lower crime rates compared to Downtown Dallas.