Off-duty New Orleans security officer gunned down
New Orleans LA Nov 28 2017 Ned Alexander said he last spoke with his nephew, Antoine Brumfield, two weeks ago when the 23-year-old had just got off work as a security guard on Bourbon Street.
Alexander paused during his shift as an Uber driver when he saw Brumfield on Canal Street, Alexander said Sunday (Nov. 26). They spent an hour talking together, “just shooting the breeze” as Brumfield spoke happily about his 8-month-old daughter.
“He kept telling me he wanted to see his daughter, he wanted to buy things for his daughter and all that,” Alexander said.
Alexander’s face twisted into sorrow as he stood outside crime scene tape at the intersection of North Rocheblave and New Orleans streets as police investigated Brumfield’s death. New Orleans Police officers responded to a shooting call around 7:26 a.m. in the 1900 block of North Rocheblave Street, NOPD said.
The incident was reported as a homicide in the 1900 block of North Rocheblave.
The officers arrived to find a male suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Police said the victim was shot in the street and died at the scene Sunday. A security guard in the area heard the shots and flagged down officers on patrol in the area.
The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office is expected to release an official cause of death as well as the victim’s name, but Alexander identified Brumfield in a conversation with a NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune reporter.
Alexander said his wife called him around 9:30 a.m. to inform him of Brumfield’s death. Alexander came to the scene with Brumfield’s brother, Kevin, and Brumfield’s father.
Alexander said the family is close, and everyone was already in mourning over the loss of an aunt days earlier when they learned news of Brumfield’s death Sunday. He said the family had also lost Brumfield’s mother when she died three years ago.
“Too much death going on, man, too much,” Alexander said.
Alexander stressed he tried as hard as he could to keep his nephews away from street violence, adding that he treated them like “kids” even though they are both adults.
NOPD district maps of preliminary violent crime reports in New Orleans
“All kids gonna wild out, but he tried to do the right thing. He was just an average, everyday black kid in New Orleans,” Alexander said.
As he stood near the crime scene tape encircling the scene where his nephew died, Alexander said people have to learn to control their emotions and not give in to violence.
“It’s just hard when you see your family like that. It’s hard, ’cause I watched these boys grow up from babies and that’s what makes it hard. We were close,” Alexander said.
Kevin Brumfield said Sunday that his brother was “a good little dude” who never got into trouble. He and his relatives were still standing at the intersection near the scene of Brumfield’s death even though a coroner’s van had already transported the body away.
“He goes to work everyday, takes care of his child and he would holla at me,” Kevin Brumfield said. “That’s all he would do.”
NOPD stated Homicide Detective Clinton Givens is leading the investigation into Brumfield’s death. Givens can be reached at 504-658-5300 with any information regarding the shooting. People with information that can help solve the shooting can also contact Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.
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