In the pre-dawn hours of a Monday in New Orleans, the relative quiet of the Mid-City neighborhood was broken by the sound of gunfire. On August 14, 2023, at approximately 3:30 a.m., officers from the New Orleans Police Department were dispatched to the intersection of Banks and South Broad streets following a report of a medical emergency. Upon their arrival, they discovered the body of a man lying unresponsive.
The man, later identified by the Orleans Parish Coroner's Office as
44-year-old Joseph Pitts, Sr., had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Emergency medical services were unable to revive him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The initial investigation by the New Orleans Police Department classified the case as a homicide, turning the intersection into a crime scene as detectives began the search for evidence and any information that might lead to a motive or a suspect.
In the days following the shooting, information remained scarce. The police did not release any details about a potential suspect or what may have led to the fatal encounter. News reports at the time focused on the basic facts of the case: a man had lost his life to gun violence in the early hours of the morning. Authorities appealed to the public for assistance, asking anyone with information to come forward. As of the latest available online reports, no arrests have been announced in the shooting death of Joseph Pitts, Sr., and the case remains an open and ongoing investigation. There has been no public identification of any suspects in connection with this homicide.
