Billy Gregory is a successful musician and vocalist in New Orleans. The NOPD is saying that early Friday morning, about 1:15 a.m., the 30th of January, the musician shot a man outside of a night club: From wgno.com:
The NOPD is backing a musician`s claim that he shot a man outside a Marigny nightclub in self-defense.It appears that a 'gutter punk' accosted Gregory. He drew a legally carried pistol and fired one shot to the chest of one of the 'gutter punks', Nicholas Temper, 23 years of age. Temper collapsed in a nearby bar after 911 was called. Temper was helped to the bar by at least two others, according to a witness.
Other reports say Temper's girlfriend complimented Gregory on his outfit, after which Temper escalated the conflict:
The police report says that 23-year-old Nicholas Temper threatened to commit bodily harm on the 64-year-old musician and take his guitar.
“He said something and the kid got jealous. Got mouthy with Billy,” says Walt.One commenter at nola.com speculates that it was a set up:
Fearing for his safety, police say the musician took out a pistol and shot Temper once in the chest.
Sounds like a set-up to me: girlfriend distracts mark, boyfriend feigns anger over girlfriend to engage mark, rob mark with cowardly friends as back-up. In this case, the mark had a CCP and was armed. A bullet to the chest disrupted the set-up. Looks like the cowardly friends are lucky they don't have lead trinkets in their bodies as well.
It is unclear how much time elapsed after the initial shooting, before Gregory was attacked again by two assailants. I suspect that they caught him by surprise, because there are no reports of additional shots. Numerous police came to the scene for the shooting and 911 call.
Witnesses say other gutter punks followed the Gregory and beat him up.
One suspect was arrested for helping with the assault.
One more suspect remains at large.
Gregory did not escape unharmed. One assailant admitted to holding down Gregory while another beat and kicked him. From nola.com:
Following the shooting, police said Temper's friends attacked the shooter, knocking him to the ground while punching and kicking him. Police said the man sustained several abrasions to his head and arms.This explains the comment from Gregory's friend Walt, who is a doorman at BMC:
“I couldn’t figure out why it was one shot fired, and they all weren’t dead.”
"gutter punks" near the crime scene.
Violent crimes are commonly committed with accomplices. I believe the number is above 50%. Usually, they run off when a gun is pulled and/or a shot is fired. It is important to be aware of the possibility of a retaliatory attack and not become complacent because the immediate threat has been dealt with. We do not have Billy Gregory's side of what happened, but he was probably blind sided and knocked down before he was aware that he was again under attack. I suspect that it happened before the police arrived, but not by much, as they arrested one suspect.
In an urban environment, it is especially difficult to keep track of all the possible threats, and to maintain distance. We may never know exactly what happened. Fortunately, the attack did not seem to cause severe injury or death to Gregory. Very likely he was able to protect his head from some of the kicks and punches. Punching and kicking to the head can easily kill or severely injure a person. Presumably, he could not draw his firearm because he was being held.
The police showed one of their fairly effective roles: be a backup force so that aggressors only have a limited time to carry out their attacks.
I do not know how long Mr. Gregory was being kicked and punched, but something or someone cause the assailants to stop.
Watch for accomplices, watch your back, get to someplace safe.
©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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1 comment:
I hate to hear that this is going on Billy is a fine man and his attackers are lucky there were not some fatalities...
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