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$2.00 › METRO EDITION SUNDAY, JULY 6, 2014 DAILY & BREAKING NEWS AT ESSENCE FESTIVAL Connections emerge in Bourbon St. shooting

WE’VE GOT Robert Benvenuti, left, who police said is one of the shooting victims, poses last year with shooting suspect Trung Tran Le and ‘person of interest’ Justin Odom in a photo from Benvenuti’s Facebook page.

— The trio emerged last week as central characters — a vic- THE LOOK Alleged gunman tim, a witness and a suspect — in a mass shooting on the city’s held in Mississippi famous thoroughfare that killed a woman and wounded nine — others. By Naomi Martin Police say the man shown in Sta! writer the middle, Trung Tran Le, 20, got into a  ght with another man A photograph uploaded to around 2:45 a.m. on June 29 out- ELIZA MORSE ELIZA Facebook a year ago shows three side a strip of bars in the 700 West Bank men posing together block of Bourbon. Le fired the Essence Festival is on Bourbon Street. One holds a  rst shot, authorities allege, and  orescent-green cup and anoth- the man returned  re. about the music — ask er makes an obscene gesture to anyone at the Dome. the camera. See SHOOTING, A-8 And it’s about For complete coverage of the shooting investigation, go to nola.com empowerment — just ask anyone at the Convention Center. But it’s also about the clothes, the shoes, the look. CHRIS GRANGER / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER STAFF / GRANGER CHRIS NAGIN’S The Roots perform Saturday for Essence Fest at the Mercedes- For more fashion photos, see A-6 or Benz Superdome. The annual festival concludes today. nola.com. For the full schedule, see B-3. DILEMMA Former Mayor Ray Nagin There’s no clear-cut strategic choice as he heads into sentencing hearing Slowing down on ramps can speed commutes — sentencing, he will face a stark choice: Does he admit wrong- — By Robert McClendon needs only to look to Minnesota. according to a study by Cam- Sta! writer doing in the hopes that taking That state pioneered the strate- bridge Systematics. responsibility will result in leni- Other cities report gy to increase highway capacity “Travel-time reliability and Former Mayor ency? Or does he continue to by using signal lights to restrict crashes were all negatively Ray Nagin will walk through the de antly proclaim his innocence, success with signals traf c merging onto a freeway. impacted when they shut them halls of the federal courthouse as he has done since a grand To test the effectiveness of the down,’’ said engineer Laurence Wednesday, the last few steps of jury indicted him on corruption — on-ramp signals, the Legislature Lambert of Stantec Consulting BRIANNA PACIORKA / STAFF a path he started not long after charges 18 months ago. By Andrea Shaw suspended their use in Minne- in Baton Rouge. “They immedi- Ramp meters will be installed he took office and began using It is, said Tania Tetlow, a Sta! writer apolis and St. Paul in 2000. The ately saw a degradation in their his position, a jury found, to line law professor verdict was clear: Rush-hour highway system.’’ along the Pontchartrain his own pockets. and former federal prosecutor, a For evidence that ramp crashes jumped 26 percent, and Expressway and Earhart When he arrives in the meters improve traf c  ow, one commuting time rose 22 percent, See RAMPS, A-8 Boulevard starting this fall. courtroom to meet his fate at See NAGIN, A-7

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C M PAGE: A-1 Sunday, July 6, 2014 Zone: Metro OUTPUT AT 10:29 PM, SATURDAY Y K 7NN08NMA0706

A-8 SUNDAY, JULY 6, 2014 THE TIMES-PICAYUNE M CONT INU E D Identity of second gunman still isn’t clear

SHOOTING, from A-1 times, Le’s father would stand in front of the house and yell for long periods. Le’s friend, Robert Benvenu- “That’s a messed-up family,” ti, 22, shown on the left, was one Alesich said. of those struck by bullets, police Plaquemines Parish sheriff’s records show. And the face of deputies have been called out 13 the third man in the photo, Jus- times to the father’s house at 166 tin Odom, 20, was plastered on River Oaks Drive since Jan. 16, national news outlets as police 2009, department spokesman publicized that he was wanted Eric Becnel conrmed Saturday. for questioning. He was released At least four involved distur- soon after a two-hour interview bances or fights, he said, and with detectives, and his attorney Shooting suspect Trung Le is there were also several general said he was never a suspect. booked into Harrison County complaint calls. But he said not The shooting killed 21-year- Sheriff’s Office on Saturday. all the reported emergencies old nursing student Brittany were related to domestic issues; Thomas and wounded six out-of- with harboring a fugitive, as of- one call was for a hit-and-run, towners. cials had threatened. another was for a separate traf- It came days before thou- Le was booked into jail in c accident and others were for sands of visitors descended on Harrison County Miss., and medical emergencies. for the New Orleans police are seeking Becnel said Le was arrest- Essence Festival and drew a to have Le extradited to face one ed on Sept. 25 after deputies spotlight on the city’s dwindling count of rst-degree murder and were called out for a domestic police force. Mayor Mitch Lan- nine counts of attempted mur- disturbance. They were called drieu pleaded for State Police to der. Le will face a judge Mon- out again on Jan. 27, he said. assign 100 troopers to the city day morning who will determine Authorities were there again on and for federal authorities to CHRIS GRANGER / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER whether he will be extradited, a May 30 for a general complaint. step up their assistance ghting Brittany Thomas, a 21-year-old nursing student from Hammond, is remembered in a memorial hanging Harrison County sheriff’s dep- Le was also arrested when violence in a city notorious for its in the Bourbon Street block where she and nine others were shot. Thomas died from her wounds. uty said. he was 17, on March 31, 2011, crime problem. It’s unclear if Le has an attor- and was booked with domes- “This type of tragedy strikes ney yet. Reached by telephone tic disturbance and disturbing at the heart of who we are as a on theft charges after they were Saturday, a man who identied the peace, Becnel said. He did people and as a city,” Landrieu accused of stealing Dr. Pepper himself as Le’s brother said he not immediately have informa- said in a statement after Thom- soda and fruit punch from a cool- didn’t know if Le had a lawyer. tion about what happened after as died at a hospital. er at West Jefferson Hospital. “We don’t want to talk right either arrest. A week after the shooting, Kelley and Benvenuti now,” he said, before hanging up. Le also has an arrest record police have one suspect, Le, in declined to comment for this sto- Le’s grandmother answered in Jefferson Parish on rela- custody and have interviewed ry. Odom’s attorney, Gregory the door at her home and said tively minor charges. He was Odom and another “person of Thompson, said his client was only that she had emigrated booked on counts of possession interest,” who they declined to never suspected of pulling the from Vietnam in 1991 and that of synthetic marijuana and roll- identify. trigger, and was released from she does not speak English. ing papers in November 2011, A clearer picture is start- custody soon after giving detec- A neighbor of Le’s father and records show. He was also ing to emerge of some of those tives a two-hour interview. police records show some signs accused of stealing items val- involved in the altercation; how- “I’ll let the pictures and imag- of trouble in Le’s family. Next- ued under $500 from Sears in ever, questions remain as to the es speak for themselves,” said door neighbor Josh Alesich, December 2012. identity of the second gunman Thompson, who conrmed that 25, said the Les were “always and what sparked the deadly he had seen the Facebook pho- ghting.” •••••••• confrontation. tos. He declined to comment on Alesich said that a couple Authorities ask anyone with information Photos uploaded on Facebook the “extent to which they (Odom, DANIELLE DREILINGER / STAFF months ago Le’s father, an immi- on the identity of the second gunman or show Le, Benvenuti and Odom Le and Benvenuti) may or may Trung Le’s home on 166 River Oaks Drive in Belle Chasse was grant, “knocked on my door and the shooting to contact NOPD Homicide drinking and hanging out on not know each other” and wheth- raided Friday by a SWAT team from the Plaquemines Parish Sher- his face was all bloody — he Detective Bruce Brueggeman at Bourbon Street. Another one of er “that may or may not have iff’s Office. The family has a history of domestic violence calls. asked me to call 911 for him.” 504.658.5300 or email tips to nopdtips@ the shooting’s victims, Christo- been discussed in the interview” He said Le had punched him in nola.gov or call Crimestoppers at pher Kelley, 22, is also shown in with police. the face. 504.822.1111. several photos on Facebook with He said Odom lives with his NOPD officers first searched off good investigative work,” Another argument was Benvenuti. All four are from the parents and has a job, but he both his father’s and grandmoth- said U.S. Marshals spokesman sparked last week when the ••••••• West Bank. would not say what it is. er’s houses in Belle Chasse in Garrett Hawk. Hawk said the father backed his Dodge Ram Staff writers Rebecca Catalanello and Benvenuti, who works in the Le was arrested Friday after- the morning. Authorities found friend denied knowing that Le truck into Le’s black Honda Civ- Danielle Dreilinger contributed to this flooring industry, and Odom noon at a friend’s house in Mis- Le around 3:30 p.m. in unincor- was wanted by law enforcement, ic, Alesich said. Afterward, Le report. Naomi Martin can be reached at were arrested together in 2011 sissippi, after U.S. Marshals and porated Gulfport, Miss., “based so authorities did not book him apologized for the noise. Other [email protected] or 504.826.3452. Expressway in New Orleans notorious for rush-hour congestion Regional Planning Commission. said there are other strategies RAMPS, from A-1     TULANE AVE. The $1 million restriping project that adjust the meters based on Proposed ramp French qualies for federal funding. demand. There is also coordina- improvement project Now Lambert is principal Q uarter Ishak warned that ramp tion of meters, in which the tim- designer for a project to posi- CANA meters are not a “magic’’ solu- ing is uniform. tion seven ramp meters along L tion, stressing the system is “Other advanced systems can the Pontchartrain Express- Mississippi not designed to eliminate con- sense the demand on the main POYDRA way and Earhart Boulevard in LOYOLA River gestion, just to ease it. And the line and make adjustments in New Orleans. When construc- Claiborne Ave. S CBD devices have limitations. the ramp metering timing,’’ he tion begins this fall, the city will to lakebound EARHART Superdome In Minnesota, some drivers said. “When volume is low, it expressway become the latest metropolitan NE found themselves waiting ve, 10 lets more vehicles come from the ramp area in the country and the sec- Loyola Blvd. BARONNE and even as much as 30 minutes on-ramp.’’ ond in Louisiana to deploy the CAMP at the meters, according a poll While metropolitan areas in to lakebound MAGAZI signals to relieve gridlock. expressway ramp conducted by the Star Tribune half of the states use the sig- The work along the U.S. newspaper in 2000. There were nals, there is a resistance among 90- almost 500 meters deployed motorists to add one more stop BUS. Baronne Street corridor also will include restrip- Earhart Blvd.  around the Twin Cities. to the daily commute, Lambert ing the road to restore a third to riverbound  to lakebound “If you have heavy on-ramp said. Many drivers see the sig- expressway ramp expressway ramp lakebound travel lane and con- BORNE AVE. volume and you have to ush the nal lights as an inconvenience or struction of a flyover ramp at CLAI system so often, it defeats the nuisance. . Baronne Street Annunciation Street purpose of the ramp meters,’’ But the tide could be chang- Lambert predicts drive to riverbound to lakebound Ishak said. “Traffic conditions ing. “What we’ve seen is trafc times will shorten, the number Central expressway ramp expressway ramp will fluctuate. What you can is getting so bad in New Orleans of crashes will decline and the City hope for is if they can improve and Baton Rouge, the public sup- road’s capacity will increase, as the conditions 20 to 30 per- ports ideas like this because they demonstrated by research from ST. CHARLES AVE. cent of the time, that is still an are tired of sitting in traffic,’’ N around the United States. improvement.’’ Lambert said. “They do under- ATIO In Seattle, rear-end and side- to riverbound I Baton Rouge employs fixed- stand trafc is really getting to

expressway ramp UNC swipe collisions dropped 30 per- PROPOSED RAMP METERS N time ramp meters, which oper- be unbearable. Any of these solu- cent after ramp meters were AN ate on a set schedule. But Ishak tions people are willing to try.’’ introduced. Madison, Wis., saw DAN SWENSON / GRAPHICS REPORTER a 50 percent decrease in wrecks and an improved response to conditions such as crashes and Annunciation Street at Baronne intervals. crash scenes. inclement weather. “The concept Street, Loyola Avenue and Clai- If trafc queues on the ramps “Across the country, you see of ramp meters is an active man- borne Avenue and riverbound on and feeder streets, the system an average 30 percent reduction agement strategy.’’ the at Bar- automatically shuts off. “We are :„0@l{fŠq‹‡ H0P}~~}v} in crashes,’’ Lambert said. “In New Orleans commut- onne and Magazine streets. not making the freeway better every instance, you see reduc- ers began complaining about Signs will warn drivers at the expense of the ramps,’’ H8HLP@2F 8J6LYH8JS tions in travel time and a more the lakebound Pontchartrain when the ramp meters are on Lambert said. “The theory is if reliable corridor day to day.’’ Expressway in late 2010, when and instruct cars where to stop. the mainline is breaking down 6jiqhfŠji Š} h}{Šq{‹q{l f{i j–Šj{iq{l Baton Rouge was the first the road was re-marked at the When the signal flashes red, a or the ramp meters can’t keep :„0 P}~~}v}¦‡ j–Š„f}„iq{f„˜ vjlfh˜ Louisiana city to get ramp -Claiborne Ave- stop bar will restrict trafc from up with demand, they will go }k ijiqhfŠq}{ Š} k}‡Šj„q{l f x}„j meters. In 2010, the state nue junction near the Mercedes- moving forward. Lambert said dark. They will turn off.’’ q{hv‹‡q’j hn‹„hn ŠnfŠ hf„j‡ k}„ Department of Transportation Benz Superdome. One of three the stop delay likely will last less That is called ushing the sys- Šnj ‡qht f{i Šnj ~}}„³ ~„}x}Šj‡ and Development erected 16 sig- travel lanes was eliminated, than a minute. tem. And that is when the devic- „fhqfv r‹‡Šqhj³ j‹fvqŠ˜ k}„ Šnj vfqŠ˜ nals along a 15-mile stretch of shoehorning traffic bound for That might seem to increase es won’t be effective. f{i Šnj qxflj }k Šnj ~„qj‡Š f‡ f Interstate 12. Metairie into two lanes. congestion at ground level, for “There will be situations ‡j„’f{Š vjfij„ }k ;}i¦‡ ~j}~vj0 An initial study last year The change slashed wrecks the sake of easing congestion where drivers will be frustrated. :}„ x}„j q{k}„xfŠq}{³ ~vjf‡j found some improvement, but in the area to almost zero, trans- on the elevated expressway. They will have to wait to merge h}{ŠfhŠ :„0 6}‹l 6}‹‡‡f{ fŠ Sherif Ishak, a civil engineer- portation officials have said. But Lambert said it actually onto the freeway and see con- ii}‹‡)f}v0h}x ±à|מ׺ÞÃàËࡳ ing professor at LSU, recom- But the new pattern caused improves trafc. gestion,’’ Ishak said. “They will H„0 HfŠŠ P}‹‡‡} fŠ xtv{}vf)˜fn}}0 mended further analysis. Engi- cars to stack up on the lake- “We have video of trafc spill- think it’s a useless system.’’ h}x³ ±à|מ¸Û˞×Ã׉¡ }„ :„0 6}‹l neers were unable to validate bound expressway in the after- ing down the ramps onto the Lambert said the ramp 4„}‹lnj„ }„ fhhj‡‡ QŠ0 ;fg„qjv Yjg QqŠj³ “““0‡Šlfgj0{jŠ the devices’ effect on one seg- noon, backing them up across surface street. When they are meters, restriping and a Clai- f{i hvqht }{ :„0 @l{fŠq‹‡ H0 P}~~}v} Hjx}„qfv 8{i}“xj{ŠV ment because of a continuing the crawling up the ramps, they are borne yover will reduce travel ‹{ij„ 0 road-widening project. onto the West Bank Express- spending more than a minute time more than 60 percent, from YnfŠ¦‡ Jj“ Another evaluation is under- way. Those drivers are stymied on the ramps just to get up to 37 minutes to 14 minutes in the 5}{Š„qg‹Šq}{‡ ‡n}‹vi gj ‡j{Š Š}O way to determine strategies that by traffic from downtown and another crawling situation,’’ he morning and from 33 minutes to :„0 @l{fŠq‹‡ H0 P}~~}v} could further improve efciency, the Port of New Orleans merg- said. “It is a little counterintui- 12 minutes in the afternoon. Hjx}„qfv 8{i}“xj{Š Ishak said. ing onto the Pontchartrain tive. The ramp meters’ sole func- “The travel times were mea- hd} Snj 5fŠn}vqh :}‹{ifŠq}{ “What we can say is there Expressway. tion is to break up the group of sured in a micro-simulation Ã||| >}“f„i 2’j0³ Q‹qŠj %|| will be some days when there For the ramp meter proj- cars.’’ model from the crest of the CCC Jj“ L„vjf{‡³ F2 Û|ÃøžÃº¸º is congestion, but it is manage- ect, engineers will use a fixed- Once the ramp light flash- bridge to the westbound merge 4jhf‹‡j }k Š“} lj{j„}‹‡ h}{Š„qg‹Šq}{‡ 2{ @{hv‹‡q’j 5n‹„hn able with ramp meters. Some time system in which the meters es green, one car may merge point of I-10,’’ Lambert said. }k ¨‰à³|||³ Šnj q{qŠqfv gfvf{hj 2„Š g˜ Hf„˜ Q}‹Šnf„i³ 5QC days will be heavy and the will be activated from 6:30 to onto the expressway, Lambert The $3 million cost will be q{ Šnj 8{i}“xj{Š q‡ ¨à|³|||0 “““0Hf„˜Q}‹Šnf„i2„Š0}„l ramp meters will not be effec- 9 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. They said. The design will allow cars shared between the state trans- tive,’’ Ishak said, referring to will be erected lakebound on to move at four- to six-second portation department and

PAGE: A-8 Sunday, July 6, 2014 Zone: Metro OUTPUT AT 10:32 PM, SATURDAY