NEW ORLEANS - Police on Thursday were searching for a teenager and his mother, who they say gave the boy a handgun after he lost a fight and told him to take revenge.
The warrants accuse both Vanessa Johnson, 44, and Clarence Johnson, 17, of second-degree murder of another 17-year-old, whose name was not immediately released, New Orleans police Sgt. Joe Narcisse said.
He said both teens had walked away after the original fight Wednesday evening.
"Detectives learned Johnson went home and shared the details of the fight with his mother. Johnson's mother, 44-year-old Vanessa Johnson, gave him a handgun and instructed him to exact revenge on the victim because Johnson had apparently lost the fight," Narcisse said.
Clarence Johnson found the other youth shortly afterward and fired several rounds, hitting him once in the abdomen, Narcisse said. The other teen died at the city's trauma center.
Last month, city officials announced efforts to try to curb the violence in New Orleans after nine killings in the first eight days of the year.
They increased patrols, set up early-morning checkpoints and rushed homicide cases through the court system. National Guard troops and State Police also remain in the city after being called in last summer to help local police combat a spike in violence.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
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