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Homicide Squad: New Orleans - Season 1 - Episode 10: The Rookie
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00:25You are list 9-1-1, what's the address of your emergency?
00:27It's Claiborne Avenue, man has been shot.
00:30Can you tell me how many people is injured?
00:32One. The man is in the house dead, you need to get out.
00:47Cases on the ground.
00:53Ready?
00:56N-O-P-D!
00:58Call out!
01:03Clear.
01:05We have a man with a gunshot.
01:08Careful.
01:35We're heading over to the 1,400 block.
01:41We got a call about a homicide over at the location, so I literally had just gotten home from our
01:49shift today, didn't even have a chance to change yet. I was taking care of my dog and then saw
01:56the email, so time to give her a treat, come back on to work.
02:03Currently, I'm the youngest homicide detective for the New Orleans Police Department. I came down here from Boston originally, and
02:10I came down for the job.
02:13New Orleans, New Orleans is the big easy.
02:15New Orleans is the big easy.
02:15Everybody just wants to surround you with love and warmth, and so I'm incredibly driven because I'm part of this
02:20community now. I love this city.
02:24Good morning.
02:26So where's Tanisha with the witness?
02:29She's the one with Graham.
02:31Over there?
02:32Yeah, she was walking.
02:33Gotcha.
02:34She said she actually heard shots.
02:35She heard the shots.
02:37Peered inside.
02:39Was walking by, heard the shots, peered inside, and sucked them on the ground.
02:43They had about nine shell casings inside, around the body.
02:47Who's the victim?
02:49Eric.
02:50Eric.
02:50Gary.
02:53The male inside the house is Eric Gary.
03:00I'm learning that Eric was homeless, but he's worked hard and actually now has a housing voucher.
03:06Mr. Gary was producing music.
03:09He was trying to get his feet under him.
03:11He was trying to live on the straight and narrow.
03:13What happened?
03:15Has crime lab already been in here to photograph?
03:17You took photographs already?
03:19No.
03:19All right, let's back, let's back out and let them take care of that first.
03:23Being a lead detective, it's my job right now to try to quarterback and make sure I know and understand
03:29everything that's going on.
03:31Heard you spoke to a witness.
03:33Yes.
03:34She said that she, her gunshot, so she said she came over this way to check on her people.
03:40And I tried to talk to her a little bit. She told me she was going to sleep and she
03:46ain't want to talk to her.
03:46When we work a crime scene, teamwork within homicide is very vital. I don't think that we could solve many
03:55of our cases if it wasn't for a team effort. Everybody has a little something different to bring to the
04:01table.
04:01So what I'm thinking, T, what I'm thinking, just looking at his injuries from the outside, it looks like he
04:08was in some kind of scuffle.
04:09That's what I said, just looking at the position of his hands.
04:12The blood on the back of his head.
04:14Yeah, like he could have been, you know, fight. I just say bag his hands.
04:18Yeah.
04:20Hey, Biscoe, you were first on scene, huh?
04:22Yes.
04:23Got anything good?
04:25You dealt with this dude last month.
04:28He was a victim. He just got jumped.
04:31So no saying whether it's connected or not.
04:34Gotcha.
04:36One of the sergeants who is on scene tells me Mr. Eric had some kind of altercation a couple of
04:41weeks ago when he was the victim of an attack.
04:44Is this a continuation of Mr. Eric Gary's attack from before?
04:48We don't know.
04:51What did you say?
04:53Uh, yeah.
04:55Yeah, we'll do all the casings, phones.
04:58The spent bullet.
04:59Yeah.
05:00Definitely do the bullet.
05:02Let's be extra careful with it just in case I decide to do prints on it.
05:06When I see Mr. Gary shot as many times as he is, one of the things that comes into my
05:12mind is, is my perpetrator somebody who knew Mr. Gary?
05:16Clearly, it's somebody who is angry.
05:20Yeah, just watch this step, because there's a bullet right here.
05:27Mr. Gary's apartment is still relatively put together.
05:32Aside from casings all over the floor and a couple live rounds, the furniture isn't really toppled over.
05:44You want to do the latch, too?
05:46Yep.
05:47Okay, into the latch.
05:48Just a case thing.
05:54I can tell you one thing, there definitely ain't no robbery gone wrong.
05:57This man in his second room, which is like a bedroom, got DJ equipment, a laptop, like a nice laptop.
06:06Cajun has cameras that'll reach over here.
06:08That's good to know if I call him in the morning.
06:13I've dealt with Cajun seafood before, and I'm going to go there later and try to see if I can
06:18maybe get some surveillance footage and figure out, is this somebody on foot, or is this a car?
06:29Ooh!
06:31They say never let them see you sweat, but I am sweat.
06:35Ooh!
06:52They say never let them see you sweat, but I am sweat.
07:01How you doin'?
07:07How you doing?
07:08Hi there.
07:08I'm Detective William Yard.
07:11Pleasure.
07:11Uh, you got your car.
07:12I will make sure I give you all my information.
07:15I want to, first off, say I am so sorry for y'all's loss.
07:21You know, I wish words were enough to express how sorry I am.
07:25But I know that nothing really, really helps right now.
07:30But let's start at the beginning.
07:32OK.
07:33Eric, he had just got his face over there at .
07:36I want to say Eric called me on June the 20th.
07:39Long story short, he said, I ain't had no problems with nobody until these dudes just
07:46were coming around and stuff.
07:47Then when he get into the altercation with them, I said, you don't have to fight.
07:52He said, yeah.
07:53I said, oh, hell no.
07:56He said, I'm trying to tell you, man, I really think I'm just being set up.
08:02Mr. Eric's family member seems to be under the impression that Eric felt like he was going
08:07to be set up by these people hanging around out front of his apartment.
08:11Could it possibly be the same people?
08:14It could be.
08:15But until I have evidence that shows that, I need to be open that this could be anybody
08:20who could have done this to Eric.
08:22Wait a minute.
08:23Why for short hair thing?
08:25We talking about .
08:27Y'all prefer to miss him?
08:30Yeah.
08:30I can't believe this .
08:36Uh-uh.
08:37Not here.
08:38No.
08:41Not here.
08:43I'm so sorry.
08:45I'm so incredibly sorry for your loss.
08:48Seeing Eric's family member like this, it motivates me to work harder.
08:59We're always trying to bring justice for the victim, but it's their living family members
09:05who are left behind, devastated.
09:09I want to bring justice to her.
09:11And right now, I have to make sure that I'm guided by the evidence that we have.
09:16And right now, that's the surveillance footage from Cajuns.
09:22Hi there.
09:23I'm Detective Williard.
09:24I just came to take a look at some of the cameras.
09:29You're welcome.
09:34So this is supposed to be the footage from Cajuns.
09:43139.
09:44There's somebody on the porch.
09:51Oh, there we go.
09:52There's somebody walking out right now.
09:56Is it?
09:57They got in a car?
10:01Yeah.
10:04I think that's going to be the people responsible for this.
10:10Oh, what a lucky break that would be.
10:12Finding this car around the time of the murder.
10:15This is a huge lead.
10:16I didn't have a lot on scene.
10:18But now, I can actually pursue this.
10:21I think we need to go up to R2C and figure out what kind of car that is.
10:25Maybe even get a plate.
10:27I want to figure out who's in this car.
10:30Because once I do that, I might have my perpetrator.
10:48What's going on, y'all?
10:50There you go.
10:54We might be cooking with some oil.
10:57I'm not going to say gasoline.
10:58But you have to.
10:59We might have a car.
11:02Is that Specklot?
11:03Yes.
11:04He is.
11:05So his door is open.
11:06And I think that's going to be our victim sitting on the porch.
11:11So the car pulls up, and I think he might have an altercation or something.
11:15It's going to pull up right in front.
11:18So it's 137 right now.
11:20So I'm curious if we start to see flashes even at this distance.
11:25Where are the casings at?
11:26Inside this front room.
11:28Right there.
11:29There he is.
11:30Come back to the car.
11:32Yep.
11:32Headlights start.
11:35Oh, there's the shooter right there.
11:38Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
11:39Yep.
11:40There he is.
11:41And then he goes around to the driver's and shows the driver of this car.
11:46Holy moly.
11:48So now you just got to track that car.
11:49Yep.
11:50That should be easy because they're on Claiborne.
11:51Yep.
11:52Well, it depends.
11:54Right?
11:55Isn't this Claiborne right there?
11:56Yeah, but I don't know where there's LPRs on Claiborne.
11:58I mean, I know they've got RTC cameras all over Claiborne.
12:01Well, there's a camera right in this block.
12:01At least you'll see a better shot of the car.
12:03So, uh...
12:06Damn.
12:07I didn't see the gun flash the first time.
12:11Which side would they be coming from?
12:12This side right here is where we should see it.
12:14Any second, start flying up.
12:19Unless it already did.
12:21Oh, there it is.
12:22Right there.
12:23Some kind of silver sedan.
12:26Let me see which way they go here.
12:30All right.
12:30I'm going to go canvas in my neighborhood because I've got to give video.
12:33Do your thing, dude.
12:34Just let me know what happens.
12:35Yeah.
12:36Seeing the car is huge because this is not a pedestrian.
12:39This is not somebody on a bicycle who killed Mr. Gary.
12:42This is somebody who showed up in a car and left in a car.
12:45So now I can figure out what car they were in and where did they go.
12:51Let's see, do we get it at St. Bernard and Roman?
12:53There it is right there.
12:55So it got a plate?
12:58I can't tell.
13:02Can we check those license plate readers?
13:06St. Bernard and Claiborne.
13:09That's the bus.
13:11What is that right there?
13:13That's a Chrysler, ain't it?
13:16Yeah.
13:16With a Mississippi plate.
13:17With a Mississippi plate.
13:20Oh, I think we got it, my friend.
13:23All right.
13:25The perpetrator doesn't know that we know about this car.
13:28If we keep it to ourselves, it's something that we can still try to work
13:32and try to identify what car this is and who it belongs to.
13:36This is a huge lead.
13:38Now we're cooking gasoline.
13:40I feel better now.
13:41All right.
13:47Well, it's awesome.
13:57It's good.
13:58There's nothing.
13:58It is.
13:58We sit.
13:59Yeah.
14:03It's fun.
14:07It's good.
14:07It's good.
14:11It's good.
14:12It's good.
14:27Hi, this is Detective Williard with the New Orleans Police Department.
14:31I'm showing that your phone called 911 about an incident.
14:37Okay, that's, listen, that's fine.
14:38I just am hoping for a little bit of information about how you found out about the shooting, because...
14:46You saw the shooting?
14:56Okay, so a person went inside and started shooting.
14:59Do you know who that person was?
15:05I understand that, but you're going to be anxious until you share the info, because
15:11that anxiety, seeing something like that, I can only imagine how you feel, but I know
15:16it ain't easy.
15:17It ain't easy to see something like that.
15:22You know?
15:25Okay.
15:25Okay.
15:26So, can you tell me what the person looked like?
15:29Was it a man or a woman?
15:30Yeah, a man.
15:34Were they skinny?
15:37Uh-huh.
15:38Smell.
15:39Tall.
15:39Black.
15:40He probably could have been in his early 40s.
15:43Facial hair, anything like that?
15:45Yeah, he had hair that was going down to his chin.
15:48He had a look vest on or something like that.
15:50What color was the vest?
15:53It was green, and he put his gun in the back of his hand.
15:58And he was taking his time to get in his car.
16:01You know what I'm saying?
16:02He was taking his time to get in his car.
16:04He looked back or whatever, you know, and he got in his car like, you gave us a shit.
16:08Man, I tell you, I can't believe what I spoke, man.
16:12I'm like, we was, man, the dude just was sitting on his porch.
16:20And when he went inside, the dude got out of the car and went inside, and it must have
16:26shot five or six times, so I'm like, and the girl was sitting on her porch with the dog.
16:32I mean, she was like...
16:33There was a girl also there?
16:35The girl.
16:36Yeah, the girl was sitting on her porch.
16:38So she was outside when this all happened?
16:41Yeah, yeah.
16:42Was the girl white, black?
16:44She was white.
16:45Yeah, she was white.
16:46Did you hear any kind of commotion or struggle or...?
16:49It wasn't nothing.
16:50It wasn't nothing.
16:51It wasn't anything.
16:53He just went in that dude's house and just shot that dude up.
16:56And he was just laying on his front lawn floor, you know.
16:59I call him like that.
17:02This is the part of the job where we're going to hit the ground running and actually start talking
17:06with people, the old gumshoe-style detective work.
17:09Now I need to start talking with people and hitting the street.
17:12The right thing to do is for all of us to work together and be able to figure out who
17:17did this.
17:37I got some news.
17:39I got the 911 records and there was actually two callers for this incident.
17:46One that came a little bit later and said, listen, I was there.
17:51I witnessed the whole thing.
17:53I saw everything.
17:55And she described the shooter and everything.
18:02So, you know, we actually have an idea about who the shooter might be.
18:07Jack is a Louisiana state trooper and huge mentor.
18:12He is brilliant and he is talented.
18:14Right now, I need to be able to find this car.
18:17And if anybody is going to be able to find it, it's going to be Jack.
18:20And now, if we find the car and find somebody matching that description with the car, you know, we probably
18:28got our shooter.
18:29All right.
18:30Well, that's really good.
18:31That's a hell of a start.
18:32Yeah.
18:34We know what kind of car.
18:35It's a Mississippi license plate.
18:37It comes back to a woman in Mississippi.
18:39It's possible that one of her family members is driving her car.
18:43We know what the shooter looks like.
18:45Now we just got to find him.
18:47So I'm scooping riffle right now.
18:49Now we're going to go back into the neighborhood and go door to door because this witness said that the
18:55neighbor was on her porch with her dog when the shooting happened as well.
18:59So I want to talk to her and see what maybe she saw.
19:02That's awesome.
19:03All right.
19:03Well, good.
19:04I'm going to go check the cameras early.
19:07And then that way if I make anything, I'll have time to go look at it before the sun comes
19:11up.
19:12Thanks, Jack.
19:13You're the man.
19:13Bye, buddy.
19:17There's riffle there.
19:18All right.
19:25All right.
19:25Where are we going?
19:27We are going to go over to the scene.
19:30Where would the white lady live?
19:31Like the house right to the left.
19:33Is it worth knocking on her door right now?
19:35Yeah.
19:35Or is she too hot?
19:36No, I think, I think.
19:37We can't at least knock on that door.
19:46Hey, how are y'all doing?
19:48Did y'all know the gentleman from the other night about the shooting that happened?
19:52Don't know me.
19:53Yeah.
20:01I might have to come back later.
20:04Did you all see anything or know anything about the shooting the other day?
20:09Basically, everyone is saying they didn't see anything.
20:12You know, it's hard for them to come forward.
20:16But it's just, it has to be done.
20:18Like, we need this information.
20:20I know people don't always want to talk with us.
20:22But listen, we can use your help.
20:32So that was interesting.
20:35No real luck in locating the witness who actually saw it.
20:40But a female had came up to us while we were out here canvassing and said that the streets
20:48are saying that the perpetrator had pulled in front and parked in front of our victim's
20:55house and the victim had said, you can't park there.
20:59And they started getting into an argument.
21:03And the argument had led to the perpetrator shooting the victim.
21:10Obviously, you know, we can't hear anything in the video.
21:12But it does show the guy parked in front of the house, right?
21:15Like, right in front, like, right behind us.
21:18That might be the motive right there or something that dumb.
21:21Dude.
21:22But this whole thing is because the perpetrator parked in front of the victim's house.
21:30I don't know, quite frankly, how the victim would know the perpetrator.
21:38How are you going to shoot somebody just for saying, don't park in front of my house?
21:42How crazy is that?
21:42I feel like we are getting so close.
21:46We need to find this vehicle.
22:15What's going on?
22:17No, so obviously, you were there when the incident happened.
22:22You were there on scene with me.
22:23The victim was sitting on his porch when a car pulled up in front of the house.
22:29The victim ends up going to walk inside his house.
22:32The driver of the vehicle gets out, goes into the victim's apartments, and all you can see
22:38is all of a sudden a bunch of muzzle flashes.
22:41Wow.
22:41I started searching for some of the previous license plate reads.
22:45I want to know, where else does the car park?
22:47Mm-hmm.
22:48It parks over in the 1900 block of .
22:53Okay.
22:53Well, today, Jack happened to pass by at, like, 7 in the morning, and he saw the car parked
23:00right up, backed up against this trash can, blocking the license plate.
23:04Mm.
23:05That's the apartment right there, apartment A.
23:08This is a huge break, but I need to figure out who was actually driving the car.
23:13So, what we did is we took a deep dive into some of the family members of the registered
23:19owner, and the person who immediately, like, came up as having that address or has had that
23:28address at some point is somebody by the name of Alton Witte, who's 32 years old.
23:37Okay.
23:37And he's got a criminal record.
23:39I started searching for license plate reads, and I came across this one from June 12th.
23:45Mm-hmm.
23:45And it actually captures this dude right here looking like he just got out the car.
23:49Oh, that's him right there.
23:51I went through some other.
23:53They're him getting out the car.
23:54Ah.
23:55I think that guy in the high visibility vest right there.
23:58Right.
23:59I think that's going to be our perp.
24:02I'm curious to see what he looks like and see if he will match the person in that photo
24:09from the license plate read.
24:12Let's look.
24:14Mm-hmm.
24:15That looks pretty damn close.
24:18Right?
24:19So, right now, we got people doing surveillance on the car.
24:22We're waiting for any kind of activity.
24:23The minute he goes to that car, they're going to be on him.
24:27And the minute he goes back inside, they're going to surround the house.
24:31Already got a warrant for the house.
24:33Got a warrant for the car.
24:34We're going to hit it.
24:37That's what I'm talking about.
24:38We're going to hit it.
24:39I want to go to RTCC to surveil the apartment from the RTCC camera and watch who's coming and
24:45going.
24:46I'm hoping I spot my perpetrator.
25:02Maybe I'm crazy.
25:06Hold up.
25:07Hold up.
25:08Wait a minute.
25:09I got him, I think.
25:11One of the RTCC cameras is close enough that we can actually fix it where the car is at.
25:16I can see about 30 minutes ago, somebody had dropped him off.
25:20When he gets out, I see in his hand, he's holding a high visibility vest.
25:26That's exactly what my witness saw.
25:38Hey, Jack.
25:40At 2.51, he's outside holding his high visibility vest.
25:44He went in and then he, like, went out.
25:47Oh, it's such a tough call, dude.
25:49I, it looks like him.
25:53I'm going to be honest, it looks like him.
25:55How's this?
25:55I'm going to tell you what.
25:56I'll upload the snippet and you tell me what you think.
26:01Less than five minutes later, he leaves the apartment and the car was backed up against
26:06a dumpster.
26:07I can't really see it now, but I know the car is there.
26:10And we're trying to decide, is this the moment?
26:13Are we going to hit this house?
26:16My heart's racing.
26:18Yeah, that's him.
26:21We're in the same pants, boots.
26:25That's the right build.
26:33There it is.
26:34Okay.
26:35Hold on.
26:35What kind of car is that?
26:38It's a Hondo.
26:43What I'll do is I'll just kind of keep taps on this, let it go back to live mode, and
26:50um, and then just monitor.
26:53Oh, yeah.
26:54All right.
26:55Watching these cameras, I can see that the suspect leaves with somebody 30 minutes ago.
27:00But RTCC really means real time.
27:02I can watch a live feed on any of these cameras.
27:05So now I'm going to watch the live feed of this camera to see if he comes back.
27:09There's no saying what he doing right now.
27:14Hold on.
27:15Let's see.
27:15What was that?
27:19They might be coming back.
27:29I think I'm pretty positive it is.
27:35So I think that this is possibly a perpetrator.
27:39Alton Witte.
27:41How confident are we that that's him?
27:46I can't be 100%.
27:51Hey, Jack.
27:52Hey, bro.
27:55Um, all right.
27:58Before we start sounding the alarms, I mean, we got to figure out, like, if this is our
28:03guy.
28:03Yeah, I feel good.
28:04I feel like this is the guy.
28:06It's just like, how do we say it, you know?
28:11But how do you feel?
28:18I'm conflicted between wanting to, like, make sure we secure him, but also not wanting
28:24to rush it and blow it.
28:26All right.
28:26This is one of the most painful parts, because we want to move in, but we want to make sure
28:33that we have the right guy.
28:34We're going to watch this car and see who comes and goes from it.
28:38Because the person who's driving this car is probably my perpetrator.
28:43You're finding this guy is not the issue.
28:46I just want to, like, is there anything we could do in the next day or two or hours that
28:53would solidify the guy that we're seeing on camera as the guy we believe did the homicide?
29:00No, without blowing it.
29:02I think the thing I don't want to do is the thing that is the right answer and the right
29:06thing to do, which is let it play out and just keep watching.
29:10I'm leaning that way, too.
29:12Once we hit the house, we've shown our hand.
29:15Right now, it's a waiting game.
29:16Patience is a virtue, and we're going to surveil.
29:19We need to see him actually driving the car and then move in and get him.
29:40He could be leaving this house any minute, and if he leaves...
29:49Oh man, this dude could literally walk out of his house and hop in that car and disappear
29:55on us any second.
29:57And so right now, we're racing the clock to get him.
30:01All elements at FAP, permission to move to target location.
30:07We have permission to move to target location real quick.
30:11We're racing to all elements moving to target location all night, go.
30:14Three, two, one, go.
30:16Activate BWCs, activate BWCs.
30:20All right, do that.
30:25I got contact, all right.
30:39All right.
30:40Good morning, guys.
30:41Good morning.
30:42Good morning.
30:43Appreciate the help.
30:44What's going on?
30:46I did see a vest.
30:48The high-vis one?
30:49Yep, and we fire on the right hand on this table.
30:51Perfect.
30:52Perfect.
30:53All right, sir.
30:54I'm Detective Williard with the New Orleans Police Department.
30:56What's your first name?
30:59L-T-O-N.
31:00Can you spell that?
31:02A-L-T-O-N.
31:04All right.
31:05Your last name?
31:06W-H-I-T-E-Y.
31:08All right.
31:09Well, I appreciate it.
31:10I'm going to get with you probably a little bit more once we wrap some stuff up.
31:13We're just going to have you detained.
31:15You're not under arrest.
31:16You're just detained right now, okay, while we figure out some stuff that's going on.
31:21At this point, I don't talk to him much, but knowing that he's going to be a possible
31:25suspect, I have him transported to the 5th District Station so I can question him once
31:30we finish with the search warrant.
31:32How do we get an arrest warrant for him to do?
31:35So we're going to talk to him for sure.
31:37Okay.
31:37See what he says.
31:38But that's why I lined up Crime Lab to get those guns tested right away so that way
31:43we can know if we get a ballistics match.
31:46Here's the thing is, I got him operating that car.
31:50That's the perp car.
31:51Okay.
31:51That's the perp car.
31:52With the Mississippi tags on it?
31:54So that's the perp car right there.
31:56Huh?
31:56Towing it.
31:57We're going to tow it.
31:58I got a search warrant for it anyway, but we're going to tow it.
32:00Um, and then, um, we got the guns, if they match the brand, you know, caliber and all
32:09that.
32:10Hey, Donald?
32:11Yep.
32:12Guns, vest, what else before we search do we know we're interested in?
32:16Um, this camo stuff right here.
32:19Okay.
32:19Uh, your live rounds is going to be the same time.
32:22Hey, Sarge.
32:24Yeah?
32:24Same brand of ammo.
32:26All right.
32:27So, yeah, we probably got it.
32:29It's going to be the gun.
32:31While conducting the search warrant, we also find 9mm guns, ammunition that matches what
32:37we had on the crime scene, and high visibility tops.
32:40I'm pretty confident we have the right guy, but I'm not quite at arrest warrant territory yet.
32:46I'm going to roll, Joe's on the way to headquarters with the car, to the evidence cage.
32:50I'm going to roll to the 5th District.
32:51I'll meet you over there.
32:52All right.
32:53Thanks for the assist, dude.
32:54See you over there.
32:57I want to talk to him.
32:58Depending on what he tells me will depend on whether or not I can actually book Mr.
33:03Alton with this homicide.
33:14Right now, we just finished up the search warrant.
33:17Our suspect was there, Alton Witte.
33:20He's the person who we've actually been watching now for the last day or two come and go from
33:27the vehicle, we got him en route to the 5th District Station, where we're going to interview
33:34him and talk to him and see if he wants to talk to us about what may have happened that
33:39night.
33:39But I think we probably got our guy right here.
33:45We're just going to let the rest of the evidence come in and lead us.
33:50We're just going to let the rest of the evidence come in and see if he wants to talk to
34:17you.
34:17One of the biggest hurdles that we have to overcome is proving that Mr.
34:23Alton was the only one who could have been there the night of the murder.
34:26So if I can get Alton to say that he's the only person who drives that car and that the
34:33high visibility tops and the guns are his, that would corroborate everything that we've
34:39gotten from video and from witnesses.
34:42That will help lock this in.
34:45So Alton, you mentioned when we're out there, I see that you're not residing permanently over
34:53there on the ****, but you've been there about how long?
34:56Maybe a month or something, not that long.
34:59One, maybe a little bit longer.
35:01Okay.
35:02Now, there was a car that was parked out front, okay?
35:08A Chrysler.
35:09Okay.
35:11Is that your car?
35:14Yeah, that's the car we drive.
35:16Is it registered to you?
35:17No.
35:19Who does it belong to?
35:22My mom.
35:24Belongs to your mom?
35:26Anybody aside from you drive the car?
35:28No, no, no, no.
35:29I'm about to take my case, son.
35:32As soon as Alton says that he drove that vehicle, that's a huge break, because now I know who's
35:40behind the wheel of that car.
35:41What do you do for work?
35:43Do glass work on the house.
35:45Glass work on the house, bills.
35:47What kind of uniform do you wear?
35:50Shirt, jeans.
35:52What's it look like, that shirt?
35:54It's the color that construction work as well.
35:56Like the visibility vest and the shirt, bright yellow, bright green.
36:06Alton, you know where KJC food is?
36:09On Claiborne?
36:12You ever frequent that area, maybe across the street?
36:15Yeah, I'm always around in that area.
36:18Do you ever remember where you were this past Wednesday, maybe around like two in the morning?
36:26I was out and about around that time, yeah.
36:29You know where you were out and about at?
36:31About around the same area, around in, you know.
36:33That Claiborne area?
36:35I probably was out and about around that time.
36:37Okay.
36:37I wasn't specifically there.
36:40Okay.
36:40Yes.
36:41Would it surprise you that I have video of you there?
36:44No, you probably saw me around in the area.
36:47Okay.
36:47Yeah.
36:49Did you get into any arguments, maybe Wednesday morning like that, around 2 a.m., with anybody in that area?
36:56No.
36:57Do you know why you're here now and why police came to the door?
37:01No.
37:02Is your car totally by surprise this morning?
37:06Okay.
37:07Okay.
37:23Alton's admitting to everything except for the murder itself.
37:26That's a huge thing.
37:29Now's his chance to tell us why he decided to kill Mr. Eric.
37:33In the next hour, are our forensic people going to tell me that your guns shot off rounds in that
37:46area where we had a homicide across from Cajuns?
37:51Is your gun going to match?
37:55I don't know.
38:05Is your gun going to match?
38:07Yes or no?
38:08I don't know.
38:08It's not going to match.
38:10But whatever happened to one down, I don't have no deal with this.
38:13You have no deal with this?
38:15This is sort of like last chance to maybe explain what was going on before it kind of finishes.
38:21You know what I mean?
38:22I didn't have nothing to do with that.
38:24Right now, we got video that shows you shot and killed a man on North Claiborne.
38:35I'm sure you don't want to get ahead of this.
38:39I guess I didn't know what.
38:41Okay.
38:42Here's where we're at.
38:44I'll give you this last opportunity because what happens next is this.
38:48When I step out of this room next, I'm going to be starting to type an arrest warrant, okay, for
38:53second-degree murder.
38:54He says that he's in the area where the homicide occurred regularly.
38:58He drives the car.
38:59He wears the high-visibility tops.
39:01And his guns are loaded with the same type of ammunition, even if the guns from Alton's apartment don't match
39:08the Cajuns we had on scene.
39:09All it does tell me is that he possibly got rid of the murder weapon.
39:13We still have enough evidence to charge him with the murder.
39:16Is there anything that you would like to tell me?
39:20I have everything I need at this point.
39:23Continuing this interview and Alton's continued denials are not going to get us anywhere.
39:28So I decide to end the interview.
39:30Best of luck to you.
39:38Mr. Whitty is now going to be placed under formal arrest.
39:44He will be transported and booked on his warrant for second-degree murder.
39:48And so tonight, we can rest a little bit easier knowing that he won't be out there to hurt anybody
39:55else.
40:07It's one of the most suspenseful moments of my career so far.
40:12But, uh, we did it.
40:17We, uh, we are, uh, getting justice for Eric.
40:23Getting justice for Eric.
40:25I became a homicide detective because I knew I was good at being a detective.
40:31I knew I was good at investigating.
40:34And, you know, I'm part of this community now.
40:36So I'm very driven to make sure that these cases get solved, my cases get solved, and I'm able to
40:43be part of the solution.
40:59He's booked, should be in court right now, see if he gets a bond or not.
41:05All right, this morning, I'm going to call the family and let them know before it hits the news.
41:15Hi, it's Detective Williard with the New Orleans Police Department's Homicide Division.
41:20So around 7 o'clock last night, we arrested Eric's killer.
41:26You did?
41:27We did.
41:28We got him.
41:28For sure.
41:29We're for sure.
41:30We got him.
41:31Ah!
41:32I'm sorry, my brother.
41:33We stayed under a lot.
41:35All I know is y'all got him.
41:38He got arrested.
41:39Yep.
41:40We did.
41:41Thank you, boy.
41:43It seems like Eric really was a great guy who was just trying to get his feet under him.
41:48He wasn't into drugs.
41:49He wasn't into any of that.
41:51I'm so glad.
41:53Oh, my God.
41:54I'm so glad because it's like, you know what?
41:56You can at least be at peace that he got arrested.
42:01Yes.
42:01Yes, he did.
42:03Okay.
42:04Thank you so much, but he's been caught.
42:06You're very welcome.
42:08So this was the first actual investigation that, you know, we had to run with that I've had
42:14the opportunity to make the call.
42:17It's hard to describe how it feels calling the family of the deceased.
42:22Being able to call Rosa and tell her, we got the guy.
42:27That's what this is about.
42:29That's probably one of the best phone calls I'll ever be able to make in my career.
42:34So that's a good one.
42:39I don't have any reason to think that Eric knew who his killer was.
42:46We may never know the reason why Eric was killed.
42:51It's going to bother us.
42:52It's going to bother me.
42:54But we don't always solve every case.
42:57But we were able to solve this one.
42:59And we're able to bring justice for Eric.
43:08We're able to solve this one.
43:11We're able to solve this one.
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