On the evening of February 15, 2013, Isaac Stern, a 47-year-old Black / African American man, was standing outside a home near the New Orleans Fair Grounds. He was simply waiting for a friend who had gone inside to get him a cigarette when a car suddenly sped up to the corner of Romulus and Castiglione streets shortly before 7:30 p.m. In a brutal and unexpected attack, the occupants of the vehicle opened fire, unleashing a barrage of bullets at Stern.
Witnesses later recounted a horrifying scene where three masked gunmen not only shot Stern but then stood over his convulsing body, laughed, and continued to fire. A neighbor who heard the gunfire called 911 at 7:24 p.m. and, after the shooting ceased, found Stern on the ground, still breathing and with a pulse.
The brazen murder of Isaac Stern was not a random act of violence. Authorities quickly began to suspect that the shooting was connected to a violent street gang known as the Mid-City Killers. The prevailing theory was that Stern's murder was a retaliatory act for violence purportedly committed by his son, Isaac "Ike" Jones. This single act of violence set off a chain reaction of vengeance that would lead to more bloodshed on the streets of New Orleans. Police identified one of the suspected gunmen as Orlando Rickmon, a 26-year-old believed to be an associate of the Mid-City Killers. His physical description, including his height and long dreadlocks, matched the accounts provided by witnesses at the scene of Stern's murder.
In the months that followed his father's death, Isaac "Ike" Jones embarked on a path of retribution. Five days after the murder, he shot and wounded Orlando Rickmon. Then, on April 23, 2013, Rickmon and his friend, 22-year-old Desmond Bell, were sitting on a porch when they were ambushed by two gunmen. Both Rickmon and Bell were killed in the hail of bullets. Jones was eventually arrested for a crime spree that spanned from May 2012 to April 2013. Facing the possibility of three life sentences for his actions, including the murders of those he believed were responsible for his father's death, Jones ultimately accepted a plea deal. He admitted his guilt and was sentenced to 30 years in state prison.
While Isaac "Ike" Jones faced justice for his retaliatory actions, the case of his father's murder also saw a resolution. In May 2018, members of the Mid-City Killers gang pleaded guilty to their roles in a series of fatal shootings, including the murder of Isaac Stern. Dwayne “Wayne” Miller, then 25, and Glen “G Three Stone” Emerson, then 23, both pleaded guilty to five counts of manslaughter and other charges. They were each sentenced to 40 years in prison. A third member, Richard “Trey” Ward, who was only 15 at the time of the killings, pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter for his involvement in the deaths of Stern and two others. Ward received a 20-year prison sentence for his role in the violent acts that took a father and sparked a deadly cycle of revenge.
