[NOLA] The brother of an Alabama-born grandmother who was fatally punched on a French Quarter street last week is trying to understand what motivated her killing, but he expressed relief Wednesday that police had captured a suspect."We have no earthly idea why this happened," said Jeffrey Johnson, brother of Margaret "Jane" Johnson Street. "It won’t bring my sister back, but it helps knowing who did it and that they have him."
New Orleans police say Johnson Street, 61, got into an argument with Jeremiah Mark, 23, in the 100 block of Royal Street on April 18 at about 7:45 p.m. Details about the argument haven’t been available, but Mark punched Johnson Street in the face, causing her to fall backward and hit her head on the concrete, police wrote in a sworn statement filed in Criminal District Court.
"Booyah, did you see me put the lights out on that old lady? Like a champ!"
She was taken to University Medical Center, where staffers diagnosed her with a traumatic brain injury. She died April 20, and her death was classified a homicide after an autopsy two days later, police said.
Police said they didn’t immediately know Mark’s name, but they released a photo of him to the public and asked for help in identifying him because they wanted to question him. Mark saw the picture in the news media and met with Sherlocks April 22. Police said he told them "he used his hand to push [Street] in the face."
They booked him with manslaughter, which Louisiana law defines as an unintentional yet unjustifiable killing. Magistrate Court Commissioner Jonathan Friedman set Mark’s bail at $100,000, and he remained in jug Wednesday evening.