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Tech Helps Investigators Find French Quarter Gunman

The technology that helped investigators track one of three men accused of opening fire in the French Quarter, killing one and wounding three, has also raised criticism about the actions of an Orleans Parish judge.

Mounted New Orleans police officers in the French Quarter.
Mounted New Orleans police officers in the French Quarter.
Shutterstock
(TNS) — The technology that helped investigators track down one of three men accused of opening fire in the French Quarter Thursday, killing one and wounding three others, has also raised criticism about the recent actions of an Orleans Parish judge.

Nicholas Miorana , 28, was jailed Thursday evening on a count of second-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder for the spray of bullets shortly after noon in the 700 block of Iberville Street .

According to police, Miorana was joined in the violence by Daniel Miorana , 21, and Darrell Adams , 23, who remained at large on Friday.

New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick has said Thursday's fatal shooting was targeted.

It came on the heels of two shootings Sunday along a crowded second-line as it wended through the Ninth Ward . Combined, the three incidents left three dead and 14 wounded. Sunday's violence sparked debate Wednesday at a City Council meeting, where residents vouched for the tradition.

But the identification of Nicholas Miorana as a suspect in Thursday's fatal gunfire in the Vieux Carre sparked finger-pointing on Friday directed at Criminal District Court judge Leon Roche , from both the ankle monitoring company that was supervising Miorana, and from Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams' office.

Tech credited

At a Friday morning news conference, Williams credited Project NOLA, the surveillance nonprofit responsible for many of the real-time crime cameras throughout the city, for an "instrumental" role in helping police to take Nicholas Miorana into custody.

"It's a testament to how technology can protect the public," Williams said.

Miorana also wore an ankle monitor for charges that included negligent injuring and weapons counts, to which he pleaded guilty in January and received suspended sentences and probation. He was also arrested for domestic battery in September.

Roche barred Miorana from possessing a firearm and only allowed him to leave home between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. for work at a local car wash.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Derbes , chief of the homicide division, said Friday that Miorana violated conditions of his probation 40 times between Oct. 3 and Nov. 21 . Each time, Derbes said, Roche was notified by email.

'A judge problem'

Roche did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Rob Kazik , the court's judicial administrator declined to comment on a "pending" case.

Matthew Dennis , president of the Assured Supervision Accountability Program, said Friday afternoon that his company sent more than 40 reports of Nicholas Miorana's violations to Roche's inbox.

Dennis said Nicholas Miorana was violating his probation Thursday when, according to an affidavit for his arrest, he allegedly picked up the two other men three minutes before the shooting and six blocks away.

"There have been almost no days where he did not violate," Dennis said. "This is a 100% a judge problem."

Williams urged New Orleans residents to alert police if that see Daniel Moriana or Adams in public. Adams is also wanted in connection to a Sept. 25 shooting in Little Woods in the 7700 block of Dorsett Drive .

Any attempt to aid the men, who are each wanted on one count of second-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder, could result in prosecution as an accessory, Williams said.

Anyone with information about the shooting or the suspects may call Crimestoppers anonymously at (504) 822-1111.

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