Eastern New Orleans family is badly shaken after home invasion, shootout(LA)

nola.com ^ | 14 November, 2012 | Naomi Martin

[marktwain]

A shootout with military-style guns just feet from her sleeping 8-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son was the last thing a New Orleans dentist expected when she woke from a restless sleep Wednesday about 3:30 a.m. in her eastern New Orleans home. As the 34-year-old woman checked on her husband, who was up late working on his computer, the couple was startled to hear their home alarm system suddenly beep: A window in their garage gym had been opened.

Her husband, also a dentist, pulled up his computer surveillance footage from the family's security cameras surrounding their property in the 5600 block of St. Helena Place. The couple watched in horror as three masked men dressed in black worked to pry open their window. One of the men held a 3-foot-long assault rifle. A fourth man stood guard behind the house, outside the back door.

[SJSAMPLE]

One of the commentors took it to the author of the article and she responded with nonsense. Journalism is such a varied profession, you get rank amateurs to absolute greatness.

[ArrogantBustard]

Odd that a dentist would have surveillance cameras and no alarms on his windows that would have called as soon as the window opened or broke.

Many security systems can be programmed to sound a local alarm when the residents are home and awake; the remote alarm is triggered only when the system is completely armed. The system would usually be completely armed only when the residents are gone or have retired for the night.

[Noamie]

“Eastern New Orleans family is badly shaken after home invasion, shootout(LA)”

Dunno why, but what if the headline had read:

“”Eastern New Orleans family is Announces Open Season on Looters After Successful Team Death Match.”

[ArrogantBustard]

Even if it’s a gun, it’s just property crime, I guess.

Very likely.

I observe on another thread that some bunch of gungrabbing loons in San Fransicko has awarded your home state a grade of "F" for its gun laws. Congratulations!

[ArrogantBustard]

Right ... you can’t be sure they’ll EVER show up.

[SJSAMPLE]

Thank you.
Although Indiana requires a permit for CC, it’s a LIFETIME permit that only cost $115 and SEVEN DAYS to process. I feel lucky compared to people in other states.

Class III auto and suppressed is no big deal here and the cops are relatively gun-friendly. We’ve got good range protection laws as well.

[grumpygresh]

A preview of coming attractions in the city after the financial collapse. Night vision scope and night vision binos for a spotter. The robbers probably knew the dentists had a safe. Beware of housekeepers.

[corbe]

This could have turned out very differently had the hubby not been up at 3 AM looking at p0rn.

[RedMDer]

[Charles Martel]

Odd that a dentist would have surveillance cameras and no alarms on his windows that would have called as soon as the window opened or broke.

Many people don't arm the alarm system until they're ready to go to bed; this guy probably hadn't done so yet. And if I lived there (I know this area, it's waaay the hell out on the fringe of suburbia next to a marshy wildlife refuge), I'd have surveillance cameras *and* several outdoor motion sensors.

This is a modest '90s neighborhood, but a number of the houses there have iron fences right up to the sidewalk with rolling driveway gates. Prior to Katrina, it was a rough area due to the usual New Orleans blight, plus the added attraction of Vietnamese gang activity. Don't know what it has become since then.

[stuartcr]

Novacaine cartel...or maybe raising a crop of dental floss.

[stuartcr]

Who knows?

[Dr. Sivana]

Novacaine cartel...or maybe raising a crop of dental floss.

Nitrous, man ... nitrous.

[Bogey78O]

I know this area very very well. It was primarily Vietnamese with a small but sizable black population. Its so Vietnamese that most of the streets named in the past 20 years have VN styled names. I’m not surprised they had cameras as many of the VN in the area are very vigilant when it comes to security. I’m surprised that the guys family didn’t get there before police since the area is so tightly knit.

I think one of the last times I was out there on that street I talked to a black gentleman whose house had an attempted burglary by thieves who cut the power but didn’t think about power backups.

If you pull up google street view the houses around the corner have a unique Asian flair to them. Iron fences, gardens out front along with statues.

What’s interesting to me is that if there were any cars in Michoud it’d take literally less than 2 minutes to get there. I know driving safe I can get from one side of Michoud to the other in 5 minutes.

[Tainan]

The Asian gang home invasion scenario was mentioned by one of the commenters. It sound like this is what happened.
Very professional attack on the dentists home. It was noted that one of the invaders finished off a cigarette prior to the break-in and pinched it off with is fingers and put it in his jacket pocket (caught on the CCTV security cam).
So, it does look like this might well have been an organized Asian gang home invasion. My guess, and its only a guess, is that the dentist is also Asian.

[Bogey78O]

Ehhh... it can go either way on if it was an asian gang or another type. The asian gangs in that area seem to be into the drug trade though and not the burglary route. Hell, most of the Vietnamese are either extended family or they know each other from church as the two places of worship pull in probably 90% of the population (Buddhist Temple and Queen Mary)