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Two pit bulls were shot on a walking trail near Slidell after they attacked a woman and her miniature collie Wednesday morning, authorities said. The woman was taken to a hospital with bite wounds to her left arm and left leg, and her dog was transported to a local veterinary clinic to be treated for its wounds. One of the attacking pit bulls was killed by a gunshot and the other was wounded and later euthanized due to the extent of its injuries and the fear that it may attack again, according to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office.

Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies found a racketeer and a riddle when they pulled over a van in Metairie two months ago. The racketeer was Joe Gagliano, the 55-year-old son of a reputed New Orleans mob underboss. The riddle was what he was doing in a van outfitted with what appeared to be gun ports, with a sniper rifle and silencer inside.Late one night a patrol deputy got a tip from a "credible and reliable source" that there was a van with stolen plates, driving on Metairie Road near the Orleans Parish line. When they pulled over the van, deputies found...

Juan Flores-Flores, 30, of Mexico had been deported at least three times prior to being sentenced to prison. Juan Flores-Flores, of Mexico, was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison after he was found guilty of possessing an assault style shotgun as an undocumented immigrant, United States Attorney Walt Green with the Middle District of Louisiana said in a news release Thursday evening.Flores' sentencing stems from a burglary investigation that occured Jan. 11 earlier this year

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is welcoming illegal immigrants who have crossed America’s southern border to Los Angeles, saying the city is an appropriate place to reunify children with their families. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reported Garcetti aims to house immigrant children who were detained crossing the border and has begun talks with the Department of Health and Human Services about the plan. The mayor reasoned that L.A. was a good place for sheltering the illegal aliens because their parents are probably in the Los Angeles area. Notably, in a forum hosted downtown by Politico Magazine, he said,...

A deputy shot a man carrying an unmarked "air soft gun" during a domestic violence investigation Wednesday morning in Edgard, the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff's Office said. The suspect, identified as Kirk Bovie, 49, was wounded in the upper leg and taken to University Hospital in New Orleans.An air soft gun is a non-lethal replica of a real firearm. It typically fires plastic ammunition and is used in recreation and law enforcement training. Such replicas often have an orange tip, to better distinguish them from real guns. But in this case, the Sheriff's Office said, the orange tip...

When Kenner Police entered the front door at 2409 Kentucky Ave. early Tuesday morning, they found Melissa Desilva hysterically crying as she bent over the body of her estranged husband, Lyndell Desilva, who lay in the hallway of the home they once shared, dying of gunshot wounds. Melissa Desilva, 34, was apologetic as she tried to render aid. "She said she didn't mean for this to happen," said Sgt. Brian McGregor, spokesman for the Kenner Police.Paramedics transported Lyndell Desilva, 38, to Interim LSU Hospital in New Orleans where doctors pronounced him dead a short time later. As investigators spent the...

A Kenner man accused of abducting a 7-year-old girl from her Fat City apartment complex and sexually abusing her before releasing her in Metairie last year, hopes to convince a jury this week that he was temporarily insane at the time. Steven D. Carter, 30, an electrician who had no such crimes in his background before his arrest, is standing trial on charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape, in the June 5, 2013 incident.Jury selection began about 10:45 a.m., in 24th Judicial District Judge Scott Schlegel's court. The trial is expected to last at least through Wednesday.

Bourbon Street shooting suspect, person of interest and one of the victims visited French Quarter togetherA photograph uploaded to Facebook a year ago shows three West Bank men posing together on Bourbon Street. One holds a florescent-green cup and another makes an obscene gesture to the camera. The trio emerged this week as central characters -- a victim, a witness and a suspect -- in a mass shooting on the city's famous thoroughfare that killed a woman and wounded nine others.Police say the man shown in the middle, Trung Tran Le, 20, got into a fight with another man around...

Police are seeking to question Eric Youngblood, 26, about an eastern New Orleans shootout and attempted home invasion. Youngblood is not wanted for a crime but "may possess important information relating to the investigation," officials said Friday. The two suspects in the incident, Aranton Johnson, 26, and Brandon Tucker, 25, are at large and wanted for attempted murder.

Bourbon Street shooting 'person of interest' Justin Odom 'never suspected' of pulling trigger, attorney saysThe "person of interest" questioned and released by authorities in the fatal Bourbon Street mass shooting is not suspected of being the gunman whose bullets struck 10 people, the man's attorney said Thursday. Justin Odom, 20, answered questions from NOPD homicide detectives for about two hours on Wednesday, said his attorney, Gregory Thompson, who was present at the interview. Odom had turned himself in hours after police publicized they were looking for him in connection with Sunday's (June 29) shooting that left a woman dead and...

New Orleans police investigating last weekend's Bourbon Street shootings on Wednesday released photographs and the identity of a 20-year-old man they consider a "person of interest" in the case. Police are seeking the public's help locating Justin Odom, whose identity was developed in connection with the case of 10 people wounded by gunfire last Sunday at 2:45 a.m. in the 700 block of Bourbon Street.

Last week, during the official celebration of the Los Angeles Kings’ Stanley Cup victory, the mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, told a jammed Staples Center that “there are two long-standing rules for politicians”: “They say never, ever be pictured with a drink in your hand, and never swear. But this is a big f***ing day,” he said, holding up a bottle of Bud Light. You read that right. In front of 18,000 people at Staples and hundreds of thousands of others watching on television — many of them, of course, children — the mayor of the second-largest city...

The Charbonnet-Labat Funeral Home in New Orleans has fielded dozens of calls lately in response to a growing desire for funerals in which the deceased are displayed in poses reflective of their lives, The New York Times reported Saturday in a feature story. In recent months, memorial services for New Orleans socialite Mickey Easterling and local resident Miriam Burbank have drawn attention to the practice, the Times noted.

Soldiers in a Louisiana National Guard unit that deployed last year for a construction mission in Kuwait returned home from Texas on Wednesday, after a 15-hour bus ride that was arranged because no airline would provide a charter flight. Some of the soldiers in the 1021st Engineer Company arrived at Jackson Barracks, greeted by family and friends. The 1021st is based in Covington and has detachments in Independence and Gonzales. The company sent 160 soldiers to Kuwait. They returned to the United States earlier this month for post-deployment training at Fort Bliss, near El Paso

Chris Ziifle, the Gretna woman who secured her gun shop during Hurricane Katrina, is to be honored by the City Council on Wednesday for 66 years in business and philanthropy. Ziifle, 84, retired in May after selling Gretna Gun Works on Lafayette Street. She and her husband, the late Ralph Ziifle, founded the shop. It gained a statewide reputation not only for firearms sales but its gunsmith work and self-defense instruction. Besides her business, Ziifle is involved in the Gretna Food Bank, the Gretna German-American Cultural Center and the Gretna Historical Society.

Two people have been arrested in connection with the seizure of 19 marijuana plants, growing equipment and prescription pills at their Mandeville home, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said. Members of the St. Tammany Parish Narcotics Task Force executed a search warrant May 21 on the home at 543 Cedarwood Drive after receiving information about a man named "Scooby'' selling marijuana at a Mandeville area car wash, the sheriff's office said.Scooby was later identified as Deshun Jones, 25. Detectives observed him at the car wash, then followed him home and arrested him. Jones initially provided authorities with a fake...

The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that enhanced penalties for the possession of a legal firearm while in possession of illegal drugs do not violate the States new protections of the right to keep and bear arms. In 2012, the voters of Louisiana approved a constitutional amendment to the state Constitution that removed the constitutional provision that gave the State the power to regulate concealed weapons.   It added the requirement that the court use the strongest level of judicial review, strict scrutiny, for Amendment 2 cases.   There is a a good discussion of the history behind this amendment...

A driver whose pickup truck went over the railing of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was rescued by several other drivers who stopped on the bridge to come to his aid Saturday afternoon. Another driver who happened upon the scene said he witnessed several people on the bridge and one person jump into the lake to save the driver whose vehicle had gone over the side. According to the Louisiana Department of Transportation, the southbound lanes were closed Saturday (May 31) shortly after 3 p.m. due to the accident. David Grunfeld, a photographer for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune was driving by...

Two out-of-state teens accused of robbing an 80-year-old Slidell woman are behind bars after being chased down by two good Samaritans who witnessed the theft. According to a statement from the Slidell Police department, Jacob Little and Jacob Pilkington - both from North Carolina - were arrested Friday (May 30) after police say they robbed the elderly woman in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart on Northshore Boulevard.The duo, whose ages were not provided by authorities, were traveling to Texas to visit family members, but noticed they were low on gas so they decided to stop by the big box...

COVINGTON, La. —Covington police arrested two people Thursday in connection with the beating of a teen with autismOn Friday, a 17-year-old with autism was walking home from the library when two boys approached him from behind. One of the boys struck him, breaking his jaw, police said. The teen needed surgery and is recovering from his injuries. Due in large part to the overwhelming assistance from the public, two 14-year-old boys were identified and arrested in connection with the case.