In the late afternoon on Wednesday, the neighborhood of Hollygrove in New Orleans was rocked by tragedy when 17-year-old student Eric Simmons III was shot and killed as he walked home from school. He had just stepped off the bus in full uniform from Carver High School and was crossing the 8200 block of Stroelitz Street near the Cypress Trace Apartments when several suspects approached and opened fire. According to the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), the shooting occurred around 4 : 30 p.m., and police found Simmons dead at the scene before help could arrive.
The scene turned grim in an instant: officers swarmed the quiet street, yellow evidence markers were scattered along the pavement, and crime-scene tape cordoned off the area where neighbors had only moments earlier been going about their afternoon routines. One resident, who asked to remain unnamed, described stepping outside to see the police presence and realizing the horrifying reality only afterward: “I just came out and saw all the police cars and figured something happened—not knowing that this lil’ kid got murdered.”
Another witness recalled what initially sounded like fireworks: “She said she heard like three small gunshots but didn’t think much of it because it sounded like fire-crackers.” That casual misinterpretation underscores how deceptively normal-sounding events can mask devastating violence.
NOPD spokesperson Reese Harper described the incident as a “heart-breaking tragedy,” emphasising that children deserve to go to school and come home safely. “This,” Harper said, “has shaken the community deeply.” At this stage, investigators say Simmons was “approached by several males and subsequently shot.” Though arrests have not yet been reported, the department is urging anyone with information to come forward.
Residents of Hollygrove voiced deep sorrow and mounting frustration over another young life lost too soon. “They’re killing our future,” one man remarked quietly. “It’s sad. I feel sorry for the family.” The sentiment echoes across the block—and across a city that grapples daily with the cost of gun violence.
Simmons’ family is awaiting autopsy results from the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office, which will confirm the official cause of death and finalize his identification. Meanwhile, the community holds its collective breath. He had seemingly been just another teenager walking home, untouched by harm—but in a cruel instant, he became a name on a list, a memory in a shattered family.
Tonight, the bus stop where he disembarked, the block where he walked that afternoon, and the uniform he wore serve as haunting reminders of how fragile safety can be. Friends and classmates at Carver High will remember Eric for who he was—a young man with promise, whose steps forward were cut off without warning. As Hollygrove mourns, the call echoes: when will enough be enough?
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