As New Orleans’ homicide count hits 19 in January, 3 more victims identified by coroner

By Ken Daley | KNOE | January 24, 2022

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – As New Orleans’ homicide count climbed to 19 in the first month of 2022, three more victims were identified Monday (Jan. 24) by the Orleans Parish Coroner’s office.

Craig Magraff, 34, was the man stabbed to death last Wednesday (Jan. 19) at 1:56 a.m. at an apartment building in the 2100 block of Ursulines Avenue in Treme, coroner Dwight McKenna’s office said.

Lawrence Morgan, 49, and Jose Aquirre, 47, were shot to death the same day, the office said.

Morgan was gunned down around 2:43 a.m. in the 1300 block of Flanders Street in Algiers, according to New Orleans police.

Aquirre was fatally shot around 3:47 p.m. in the 800 block of Hagan Avenue near Bayou St. John. The NOPD made a quick arrest in that case, booking 23-year-old Enrique J. Garcia with the second-degree murder of Aquirre.

According to new statistics released Monday by the independent Metropolitan Crime Commission, there already have been 19 homicides in New Orleans through the first 23 days of the year. That matches the year-to-date total through the same date in 2021 and 2020 combined.

The MCC said the 38 shootings in the city through Jan. 23 represent a 322 percent increase over the year-to-date tally of 2019, when only nine people were shot through Jan. 23.