[NOLA] A pedicab passenger inexplicably shot a New Orleans police officer in the face in the French Quarter on Friday afternoon, just as revelers began arriving to celebrate Halloween weekend.The officer was maimed at about 4:25 p.m. while in his patrol vehicle near St. Philip and Royal streets. Other officers took him to a hospital rather than wait for paramedics, and police arrested the alleged gunman within minutes, Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said.
Ferguson said the officer was in serious but stable condition after being shot under his left eye. The bullet was lodged in the officer's skull, but the four-year veteran, whose name was not immediately released, was responsive as he walked into the hospital holding his cheek, Ferguson said.
A second officer, a 16-year veteran, was maimed by glass shards in the shooting, from a shattered window on the cruiser.
"Two of our officers were ambushed," said Ferguson, who said officers confiscated a gun that they think was used in the shooting. "This is a dark day."
Ferguson said the suspect, who had a gun holster on him, appeared to be experiencing some type of medical episode when he was captured. He said the man was taken to a hospital for evaluation, and he made clear that the arresting officers did not use any physical force on the suspect.
"I want to commend those officers for maintaining professionalism," Ferguson said.
Ferguson did not identify the suspect or specify what charges he would face. Friday night, a law enforcement source identified the suspect as Donnell Linwood Hansel, 45.
A woman who asked that her name not be published said she saw the suspected shooter flailing, screaming and trying to bite first responders who were loading him into an ambulance after his arrest.
| PJ Media quotes an anonymous source as reporting: |
Sources told me that he plainly smelled of marijuana and then began “acting funny and we thought faking a seizure.” He was later transported to University Medical Center where he was later intubated. The same source stated he was suffering from symptoms that are consistent with excited delirium (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excited_delirium). At the time of writing this article he remains under a guard detail.
Sources further told me, “He has disabled vet plates on his bike … he [may be] with Psi Delta Tau military fraternity and somehow made a motorcycle club out of it, not positive yet though.”