Reply #1: More details from the Times-Picayune (N.O. paper)... [View All]

[pacalo]

The guardsman, Sgt. Robert Lawrence, was patrolling in the 1400 block of Arts Street, near N. Robinson Street on Monday afternoon about 4:30 p.m. when he was flagged down by a man who said a driver had just run over his friend, said Maj. Ed Bush, a Guard spokesman. Lawrence then spotted the vehicle, “driving crazy,” and pulled the driver over, Bush said.

When the driver got out, he began waving an object the soldier believed was a gun, Bush said. Lawrence told the man three times to drop his weapon and get down on the ground. Bush said. The man refused, and Lawrence shot him, Bush said.

(...)

“It turned out to be a cell phone, but it looked like a gun,” Bush said. “Everything looks good on the question of whether the soldier did the right thing. But he’ll go through all the procedures that any cop would. He’ll see a psychologist and a chaplain, and the case will be investigated and forwarded to the DA”

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