A driver shot dead another while they were both waiting to fill their cars Friday afternoon at a Metairie gas station that has had frustrating long lines after the devastating blow of Hurricane Ida, according to the sheriff’s office. Jefferson parish.
The killer fled the scene and, in a briefing with reporters, Sheriff Joseph Lopinto asked the shooter to hand over only the investigators, adding that deputies had numerous eyewitnesses and even a photograph of the car that s ‘escaped.
“Today no one needed to lose their life over gasoline,” said an emotionally charged Lopinto off the scene of the deadly shooting, a Chevron station at block 2300 of Clearview Parkway. “That’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Lopinto said the murdered man was on a long line to fill up at the gas station when he began arguing with another motorcyclist around 4:15 p.m. The other motorcyclist pulled out a gun and shot him.
Paramedics took the wounded to the University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The other man left.
Lopinto did not identify any possible suspects, although he said the killer fled with other people in his vehicle, in front of numerous passers-by who were shocked by the murder they had just witnessed.
“Carrying a gun to a gas station and doing these kinds of actions is crazy,” the sheriff said.
Attempts to contact the gas station management were not immediately successful.
Death shows how grueling conditions left by Hurricane Ida can upset people living with mental illness
The deadly violence came two days after Lopinto warned residents to be patient at gas stations trying to serve customers amid a post-Ida fuel shortage, which led to widespread power outages, among others. .
Many people rely on gasoline-powered generators to keep the lights on, run refrigerators, or supply fresh air, making fuel the hottest product in the region.
Lopinto denounced on Wednesday that his deputies were responding to too much inconvenience at gas stations. He memorably warned the public that deputies called the people at the center of the disputes “gacholes.”
“Be patient” at gas stations, Lopinto said. “If you can’t do that, you don’t have to be here.”
Lopinto said the murder occurred the second time someone had pulled a gun at a gas station with tight tails on Friday.
The other case occurred at a gas station on West Esplanade Avenue, which crosses Metairie, and one person was arrested, but Lopinto did not reveal any additional details.
On Day 2 of the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, it still cannot be assumed when the homes of Jefferson and St. Bernard can hope to regain power.