NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Joseph James Ross stood on the sidewalk
holding the leash of his dog and crying Friday morning as police
investigated the quadruple murder at Ross' 9th Ward home.
"I want my family back," Ross said, "They never did nothing
to nobody."
Shortly before midnight Thursday, Ross' 24-year-old wife,
17-year-old sister, 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son were
gunned down in the neat four-plex where they lived. Ross said he
was at work when his family was slain.
"We don't have a motive or a suspect right now," police
spokeswoman Shereese Harper said.
As Ross was led away by a friend, he said his wife was shot
while hiding in a closet.
"Why, we don't do nothing but go to work and come home again,"
he sobbed.
Police received a call just before midnight Thursday about a
shooting and arrived at the house to find the victims lying inside.
Emergency medical technicians pronounced the victims dead.
At dawn, police clustered in the yard while crime scene
technicians finished up inside. Through the open door, a child's
bicycle and other toys could be seen in the foyer.
There was no sign of forced entry to the apartment, and police
were able to lock the door with a key when they left.
"I didn't know them except for their kids playing with mine,"
said the next door neighbor, who did not want to give her name.
"They were quiet."
The neighbor said she did not hear shots or any disTurbinece.
The latest murders pushed the number killed in New Orleans this
year to 45, said police spokesman Bob Young.
"This has got to stop," said Linda Bowie, 56, who has lived in
the area for 19 years. "All this killing, and now it's a couple of
babies that never had a chance. It's got to stop."
The area around the house where the shootings took place is
mostly filled with vacant houses that were wrecked by the flooding
after Hurricane Katrina. The restored houses stand out amid the
weeds and debris.
Bowie said she and her husband were back in their house, but not
for long.
"Not with all the killing going on in New Orleans," she said.
"I told my husband this morning that this time we're evacuating
for good."
The city's murder rate dropped slightly last year for the second
year in a row. The drop in 2009 - six fewer killings than in 2008 -
was not as dramatic as the drop the year before, however, which saw
murders fall from a post-Hurricane Katrina high of 210 killings in
2007 to 179 in 2008.
But violent crime remains a top concern of residents.
Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu has said it will be one of his top
priorities. This week he picked The International Association of
Chiefs of Police to help find a new superintendent for the police
department. Superintendent Warren Riley has said he will step down
in May when Landrieu takes office.
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