New Orleans' law enforcement and city leaders fought back tears Sunday as they decried the slaying of an off-duty NOPD officer in Houston as a senseless waste of life, urging everyone to come together to solve the plague of violent crime in U.S. cities.
Det. Everett Briscoe, a 13-year veteran of the New Orleans Police Department had just finished scheduling classes in pursuit of a criminal justice degree at Southern University of New Orleans when he was gunned down on a restaurant patio while on vacation in Houston on Saturday evening. His oldest son was preparing to start his senior year, and the father wanted to set an example about the importance of education, said Superintendent Shaun Ferguson.
"We lost a good one," Ferguson said, flanked by Mayor LaToya Cantrell, Councilman Jay Banks and others at NOPD headquarters Sunday.
Banks, who was a member of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club with Briscoe, sobbed as he recounted a conversation with the slain officer's widow, Terrell Briscoe, the night he was killed. Terrell despaired over who would teach her two boys how to tie their neckties.
"The only answer she wanted to hear is, 'Everett is going to walk through the door,'" Banks said. "But he's not.
"Please pray for her. Please pray for her boys. Please pray for this whole community and this whole country."
Banks, who was sobbing as he spoke, added, "This cancer of senseless violence has got to stop. ... There has to be an answer, and collectively, maybe, we can figure it out."
Briscoe, 41, joined the NOPD in 2008. During his 13-year career, he investigated crimes reported in the NOPD's 1st District, which includes Mid-City and Treme. He was also a detective in the agency's homicide investigations division, a unit which is considered to be at the tip of the spear in the city's fight against violent crime.
A unit citation in 2016 was among his professional achievements at the NOPD.
Briscoe, a father of two, was killed in a shooting that erupted in Houston's Galleria area on Saturday evening. He was eating dinner on the patio of the Grotto Ristorante when two people wielding guns approached a group of patrons and demanded their belongings, authorities told Houston media.
Though the group was complying, one of the robbers fired, according to media reports, which cited witnesses.
Briscoe was mortally wounded, and a second person who was shot was taken to a hospital in critical condition, police said. The attackers purportedly left empty-handed in a silver or gray Nissan Altima with paper license plates, and police have been searching for them since.
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