Man charged with killing security officer at basketball game
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A New Orleans man has been charged with killing an off-duty university police officer outside a high school basketball game where he’d shown up without a mask.
John Shallerhorn, 35, was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder in the Feb. 26 death of Martinus Mitchum, the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office said in a news release emailed late Thursday.
Shallerhorn threw down his gun and surrendered immediately after the shooting outside the George Washington Carver High School gymnasium, police have said.
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The indictment also charged Shallerhorn with armed robbery using a firearm. Police have said jewelry taken during a holdup nearby was found on him.
Martinus, a Tulane University police officer and a reserve officer for a city court, was working as security during the evening basketball game, police have said.
Shallerhorn had struck a school ticket-taker in the face after being told he couldn't enter, Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said March 1.
Police reports state that he was being turned away because he wasn't wearing a face mask, Thursday's news release said. News agencies reported that, earlier Feb. 26, police were called to get him out of a casino because he wasn't wearing a mask.
Attorneys Mariah Holder of the parish public defender's office and William Boggs of the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center were building an insanity defense during a March 20 hearing, The Times-Picayune / The New Orleans Advocate reported.
Boggs did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
