Preacherman
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From the New Orleans Times-Picayune (http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/113635949381440.xml):
New Year's shooting victim unable to walk
Police think gunfire was 'celebratory'
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
By Lynne Jensen
Staff writer
Mississippi tree farmer Mike Pieper arrived in New Orleans a few months ago as a housing inspector with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He soon was befriended by Uptown resident Beth McFarland, and on New Year's Eve the pair were drawn into the foggy night by fireworks and settled along the Mississippi River levee near McFarland's home.
It was the sound of Roman candles -- "the starburst kind that come down in a gazillion colors" -- that drew them to the levee at South Carrollton Avenue and Leake Street, Pieper said Tuesday.
Just before midnight, McFarland popped the cork on a bottle of champagne as a different popping sound rang out.
"I thought it was fireworks -- hoped it was fireworks," McFarland said. But seconds later, Pieper "turned to me and said, 'I've been shot,' " she said, standing at Pieper's bed in the intensive care unit at Ochsner Foundation Hospital.
According to a neurosurgeon's report, provided by Pieper, a bullet entered his right side and a fragment lodged on the left side of his spinal canal. His spine appears to be fractured and torn, and a blood clot is present.
Unable to walk, one of several disabilities caused by his wounds, Pieper has undergone two surgeries and more are anticipated. Doctors may have to place metal rods and screws in his spine to "promote neurological recovery," the medical report said.
A former U.S. Marine, Pieper, 56, said he was hit by shrapnel while serving in Vietnam.
"You could expect it in '69, but not on New Year's Eve in 2005," he said Tuesday, lying motionless from the waist down and seemingly tied down by an octopus of plastic tubes.
Police investigators found shell casings near the intersection where Pieper was shot. Witnesses told them that a group of four or five people were shooting guns in the direction of the levee.
Pieper, who said he was told he was hit by a .45-caliber bullet, is likely the victim of "celebratory gunfire," police spokesman Capt. Juan Quinton said Tuesday.
The deadly tradition of shooting guns into the air to celebrate holidays has been attacked by The New Year Coalition, founded after Boston tourist Amy Silberman was killed by a falling bullet in 1994 while waiting for a New Year's Eve fireworks display along the French Quarter riverfront.
McFarland said she never imagined that gunfire would ring out near the Riverbend area, especially so soon after Hurricane Katrina. "It is hard for me to believe people would be so irresponsible after what we've all gone through," she said.
Police said they received 19 calls about illegal gunfire on New Year's Day from midnight to 6 a.m., in contrast to 108 calls last year.
As soon as McFarland realized Pieper had been shot, she ran toward the popping sounds and to nearby watering hole Cooter Brown's, yelling, "Stop it! Stop it! Somebody's been shot," she said.
"At first, they thought I was crazy," she said. "Then as soon as they got what I was saying, the bartender called the police and I ran back to the levee."
As Pieper lay on his side, a Cooter Brown's cook "tried to comfort me," Pieper said. "He put his hands on my shoulders. I guess he was telling me to relax."
Pieper was taken to Ochsner. "I didn't know until today where I was," he said.
Pointing to a surgical scar running from his chest to his groin, Pieper said emergency room doctor Colleen Kennedy "probably saved my life."
Pieper said he left his Loblolly pine tree farm to become a FEMA inspector because he hoped to earn money and because it was "kind of adventurous."
He said he hopes the person who shot him will be found and will serve jail time.
"I have a feeling they were shooting in the air and then at the levee to have a target, and hopefully didn't realize there were people there," Pieper said.
On Tuesday, Cooter Brown's owner Larry Berestitzky said he is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person who shot Pieper.
Berestitzky said he rushed to the barroom and eatery after a phone call about the shooting. "My bartender called me, frantic," he said.
Berestitzky said police came by to look at footage taken by a camera mounted outside his business.
He said the shooting is a sign that the city is getting back to how it used to be, after a period of post-Katrina calm. "The kumbaya stuff is over," he said. "Everybody's going to revert back to who they are."
Quinton asked anyone with information about the shooting to call the 2nd District police station at (504) 896-4700.
New Year's shooting victim unable to walk
Police think gunfire was 'celebratory'
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
By Lynne Jensen
Staff writer
Mississippi tree farmer Mike Pieper arrived in New Orleans a few months ago as a housing inspector with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He soon was befriended by Uptown resident Beth McFarland, and on New Year's Eve the pair were drawn into the foggy night by fireworks and settled along the Mississippi River levee near McFarland's home.
It was the sound of Roman candles -- "the starburst kind that come down in a gazillion colors" -- that drew them to the levee at South Carrollton Avenue and Leake Street, Pieper said Tuesday.
Just before midnight, McFarland popped the cork on a bottle of champagne as a different popping sound rang out.
"I thought it was fireworks -- hoped it was fireworks," McFarland said. But seconds later, Pieper "turned to me and said, 'I've been shot,' " she said, standing at Pieper's bed in the intensive care unit at Ochsner Foundation Hospital.
According to a neurosurgeon's report, provided by Pieper, a bullet entered his right side and a fragment lodged on the left side of his spinal canal. His spine appears to be fractured and torn, and a blood clot is present.
Unable to walk, one of several disabilities caused by his wounds, Pieper has undergone two surgeries and more are anticipated. Doctors may have to place metal rods and screws in his spine to "promote neurological recovery," the medical report said.
A former U.S. Marine, Pieper, 56, said he was hit by shrapnel while serving in Vietnam.
"You could expect it in '69, but not on New Year's Eve in 2005," he said Tuesday, lying motionless from the waist down and seemingly tied down by an octopus of plastic tubes.
Police investigators found shell casings near the intersection where Pieper was shot. Witnesses told them that a group of four or five people were shooting guns in the direction of the levee.
Pieper, who said he was told he was hit by a .45-caliber bullet, is likely the victim of "celebratory gunfire," police spokesman Capt. Juan Quinton said Tuesday.
The deadly tradition of shooting guns into the air to celebrate holidays has been attacked by The New Year Coalition, founded after Boston tourist Amy Silberman was killed by a falling bullet in 1994 while waiting for a New Year's Eve fireworks display along the French Quarter riverfront.
McFarland said she never imagined that gunfire would ring out near the Riverbend area, especially so soon after Hurricane Katrina. "It is hard for me to believe people would be so irresponsible after what we've all gone through," she said.
Police said they received 19 calls about illegal gunfire on New Year's Day from midnight to 6 a.m., in contrast to 108 calls last year.
As soon as McFarland realized Pieper had been shot, she ran toward the popping sounds and to nearby watering hole Cooter Brown's, yelling, "Stop it! Stop it! Somebody's been shot," she said.
"At first, they thought I was crazy," she said. "Then as soon as they got what I was saying, the bartender called the police and I ran back to the levee."
As Pieper lay on his side, a Cooter Brown's cook "tried to comfort me," Pieper said. "He put his hands on my shoulders. I guess he was telling me to relax."
Pieper was taken to Ochsner. "I didn't know until today where I was," he said.
Pointing to a surgical scar running from his chest to his groin, Pieper said emergency room doctor Colleen Kennedy "probably saved my life."
Pieper said he left his Loblolly pine tree farm to become a FEMA inspector because he hoped to earn money and because it was "kind of adventurous."
He said he hopes the person who shot him will be found and will serve jail time.
"I have a feeling they were shooting in the air and then at the levee to have a target, and hopefully didn't realize there were people there," Pieper said.
On Tuesday, Cooter Brown's owner Larry Berestitzky said he is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person who shot Pieper.
Berestitzky said he rushed to the barroom and eatery after a phone call about the shooting. "My bartender called me, frantic," he said.
Berestitzky said police came by to look at footage taken by a camera mounted outside his business.
He said the shooting is a sign that the city is getting back to how it used to be, after a period of post-Katrina calm. "The kumbaya stuff is over," he said. "Everybody's going to revert back to who they are."
Quinton asked anyone with information about the shooting to call the 2nd District police station at (504) 896-4700.
That's why I always stay inside on New Year's Eve and any other holiday likely to result in celebratory gunfire.
along with the sound of the fireworks, was also the report of other guns being fired into the air. 44 mag, high power riffle, shotgun, and some home made bangs as a bunch of drunken bozo’s across the street set something off that was very loud as they danced around like a bunch of 10 year olds at their first home made firecracker.
