- According to Jeanerette mayor Carol Bourgoise, 'a wave of gun violence' has reportedly been happening in parks throughout the city.
- The mayor tells us that chief of police, Dusty Vallot, has recommended closing all parks, citywide, starting this Saturday, April 20, for safety measures.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
This weekend, the city of Jeanerette is closing its parks, citywide, due to gun violence. Mayor Carol Bourgoise held a press conference on Wednesday, to discuss more on this issue. Jeanerette Police Chief Police Dusty Vallot, and Alderwoman (Ward 1) Mariah Clay were in attendance as well.
“We’re addressing a public safety concern for the city of Jeanerette,” said Mayor Bourgoise.
“No life’s worth one day, sorry, it’s just…not feasible,” said Chief Vallot.
“Now since we back at square 'A', I mean we—we back to shutting the parks down," said Alderwoman Clay.
According to Chief Vallot, an ongoing investigation has led him to believe that a “violent gathering” is set to take place at the St. Joseph Park and Recreation Center, this coming weekend.
“At this time, through the investigation, through intel we received um….It’s not feasible because we’re almost certain that retaliation is set for Sunday at this park party,” said Chief Vallot.
Working to bring neighbors together with food and fun, a ‘park party’ has been put on for several years in Jeanerette. “The park party has had the emphasis of opening up our parks to allow folks to have a good time,” said the mayor.
“Most importantly it was—it is for our youth," explained Alderwoman Clay. "Um, just to give back a community event to the youth and give them more outside events."
But this year, the party is being put on hold, in order to keep people out of harm’s way.
“The parks will be closed this weekend. We will have outside agencies helping us with this. Please, stay away from the parks, nobody in the parks. We will arrest people for it, it will be strictly enforced.”
The chief of police says there is 'no set date' on when the parks will reopen. The police department will be handling the issue on a week-by-week basis. The 'park party' has not yet been officially rescheduled.
