In brief: Police question man in Bourbon Street shooting
NEW ORLEANS – A man identified by Louisiana police as a “person of interest” in connection with a weekend shooting in New Orleans turned himself in to police Wednesday and was jailed on unrelated charges.
Nola.com reported that 20-year-old Justin Odom was booked into the Jefferson Parish jail on shoplifting and traffic-related charges.
Odom had an attorney with him as he was interviewed by homicide detectives, a spokesman for Mayor Mitch Landrieu said.
Odom turned himself in hours after police announced they were looking for him and that one of the victims in the shooting early Sunday on tourist-clogged Bourbon Street, a 21-year-old woman, had died. Nine other people were shot, but were expected to survive.
In addition to Odom, police said they were looking for one of his associates named Josh or Joe, also described as a person of interest.
‘Callous’ abortion bill vetoed by governor
Columbia, Mo. – Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has vetoed a bill that would have required women to wait 72 hours to get an abortion with no exceptions for victims of rape and incest.
In a written veto issued Wednesday, Nixon said the lack of an exemption for rape and incest victims forced him to quash the bill, which cleared the Legislature in May.
“This glaring omission is wholly insensitive to women who find themselves in horrific circumstances and demonstrates a callous disregard for their well-being,” Nixon wrote.
Missouri law currently requires a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion can be performed. If the bill had been enacted, it would have made Missouri home to some of the nation’s strictest abortion legislation.
Only Utah and South Dakota require citizens to wait 72 hours to receive an abortion, and only in South Dakota are victims of rape and incest not given an exemption from the law, Nixon said.
Even if the bill had included exemptions for rape and incest victims, Nixon said he still would have vetoed the legislation.
“Lengthening the mandate to ‘at least’ 72 hours serves no demonstrable purpose,” Nixon wrote.