Police seek public’s help identifying gunman reportedly shown in security footage
As the sun set over the Town of Gretna this past Sunday, the evening calm was suddenly shattered when shots rang out on a local street, police reported earlier this week.
The shooting occurred around 7:40 p.m. this past Sunday, April 26, near the 200 block of Earnest O’ Barkley Street in Gretna, a news release issued by Gretna Police Chief Brian Alexander states. Thankfully, no one was injured in the evening gun violence, but the alleged shooter did manage to strike the victim’s truck with several rounds before reportedly fleeing the scene himself in a separate pickup truck, accompanied by two other unknown men, Chief Alexander adds in the prepared statement, issued by his department just hours after the shooting occurred.
Though the involved parties had already vacated the area by the time police responded, officers were able to obtain Ring.com home security video footage that reportedly captures the harrowing act of violence from start to finish. A clip from the security video released to the media begins with a man casually strolling through his front yard toward the street out front, where a light-blue older-model pickup truck had just pulled up and parked.
The man approaches the truck – stopped in the middle of the roadway – then opens the front passenger door and appears to engage in conversation with the presumed driver and/or another unseen occupant while standing in the street beside the ajar truck door.
Moments later, another man – dressed in all-black, his face concealed by a light-colored covering of some sort – enters the frame from the left, walking briskly and deliberately up the street toward the rear of the stopped pickup truck. Within seconds, the man standing beside the pickup truck appears to suddenly notice the black-clad man rapidly hoofing it in his direction and hastily jumps into the truck’s passenger seat as the approaching man – his pace quickened – appears to open fire, firing multiple shots in the direction of the truck, now speeding away from the scene toward the right edge of the frame.
The apparent gunman can be seen in the video clip giving chase for several feet, all the while squeezing off rounds – the “pop,” “pop,” “pop” of gunfire clearly audible as the pickup truck, alleged victim in tow, flees the pursuing triggerman.
Though they do not appear to be in frame during the video segment released to newsmedia, two additional men are reportedly shown in the complete footage, walking with the shooter moments before the first shots are fired, and accompanying him in the alleged getaway vehicle, police said. Despite the video evidence, investigators have yet to determine the identities of the triggerman or his two alleged companions. Police are looking to the public for help with the daunting task of assigning names to the small, fuzzy faces depicted in the security video.
According to Chief Alexander, the video footage indicates the shooter is a “young black male,” who wore a “light-colored ski mask and black t-shirt” while allegedly perpetrating the Sunday violence in Gretna. No additional descriptive information is provided regarding the two men who reportedly accompanied the shooter in the video; police state only that they were “two unknown black males walking with the shooting suspect moments before the shooting began.” After the firing ceased, the shooter and his two companions reportedly fled the scene in a “light-colored, full-size pickup truck,” according to a witness statement to police. Investigators declined to provide details regarding the alleged victim, citing the case’s “active investigation” status.
Authorities urge anyone with information that could help investigators identify the suspects and/or otherwise prove useful in the ongoing investigation to report it to the Gretna Police Department at (850) 509-4184 or Big Bend Crime Stoppers at (850) 574-TIPS (8477) or bbcsi.org. Tipsters may remain anonymous.
View the clip from the Sunday security video footage below.
