Uptown residents angered by Bridge City escapee allegedly shooting man during carjacking in neighborhood

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - One of Sunday’s six escapees from the Bridge City Center for Youth is accused of shooting a 59-year-old man later that afternoon during a carjacking in Uptown New Orleans.

A law enforcement source identified the suspect as 17-year-old Kendell Myles. Residents near the scene of the crime at Nashville and Loyola avenues said they are scared and angry about the city’s spiking crime.

“There was a police lineup and a lot of activity over at that corner,” said one resident who wanted to remain anonymous. “Very brazen act in the middle of the afternoon.”

The New Orleans Police Department said an armed carjacking and shooting was reported Sunday around 4:12 p.m., and that it left a man critically injured. The NOPD said Monday that the wounded man remained hospitalized.

Authorities said Louisiana State Police troopers recovered the stolen vehicle and apprehended two suspects later in the 2400 block of St. Bernard Avenue.

“It’s so frightening, and it feels so close to home. It is so close to home,” said another area resident who also did not want to be identified. “It could happen to any one of us, and this should never have happened.”

Another resident said the man was shot after arriving to drop off Mardi Gras beads at a recycling donation center at the intersection.

“Our city needs to get a handle on juvenile crimes. And there are people in the criminal justice system who know who these kids are, they know that they’re dangerous, they know that they’re unsupervised and being released to programs that don’t have teeth,” said a resident.

“Yesterday’s crime, everyone was a victim of it. The people that heard the gunshots, the people that saw the police cars, the people that walked that neighborhood. I walk it 20 times a day passing it. We all do. We’re all victims. It’s not just that poor man, whose life is now probably changed forever.”

The Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office told Fox 8 it has made no decision on whether Myles would be charged and prosecuted as an adult for the alleged escape, shooting and carjacking.

“Our decisions on this case referral, as with any case referral, will be based on a review of the evidence provided to us by law enforcement,” the office said in a statement. “We look forward to the NOPD’s complete and thorough investigation of this matter and will make decisions once all necessary information has been received.”

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