By Leslie Williams, The Times-Picayune
February 04, 2010, 7:15AM
Michael DeMocker / The Times-PicayuneA New Orleans police officer examines the body of a man shot to death Wednesday in the 1300 block of France Street as farther away police and paramedics look at a second murder victim in the front yard of a home.
Michael DeMocker / The Times-PicayuneDebra Gillmore yells “God knows!” at the gathered crowd as New Orleans police investigate a double murder Wednesday in the 1300 block of France Street.
Debra Gillmore — a self-described reverend who spreads the word on her New Orleans Access Television show “Touching Jesus Today” — spun around Wednesday afternoon on a corner in the St. Claude neighborhood and lectured a crowd that gathered to watch police detectives and others investigate the shooting death of her 23-year-old son and another man.
“My child’s blood for what,” screamed Gillmore as she looked into the crowd watching two bodies being hauled away.
“Stealing and murdering — for what?” she moaned. “Black-on-black crime for nothing.”
“Y’all know who’s doing this,” insisted the tearful mother of Calvinton “Minkie” Wallace, one of her four children.
Wallace and another man, believed to be in his twenties, were shot multiple times about 2:41 p.m. in the 1300 block of France Street, authorities said. Their bloody bodies lay a short distance from each other in front of houses on France between North Villere and Urquhart streets.
Investigators so far have no motive for the shooting or suspects, officer Hilal Williams said.
And police so far have not been able to determine what, if any, relationship existed between the two dead men, Williams said.
John Gagliano, chief investigator for the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office, said authorities also have not yet been able to identify the second man.
Unlike the police, Wallace’s mother offered a motive.
He had just cashed a $100 check at the France Meat Market, she said, adding that he received the check after filing his taxes.
“And they robbed him,” Gillmore told the crowd.
“Demons.” “Vultures.” “Low-lifes,” she screamed.
“Ya reap what you sow. God will take revenge. So you better watch your back,” said Gillmore as some bystanders walked away.
Gillmore said her son was unemployed and had been living with her. Wallace was a “humble, lending-hand,” kind of person, she said.
“He’d do whatever you asked him to do for you,” she said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers at 504.822.1111 or toll-free at 1.877.903.7867. Callers do not have to give their names or testify and can earn as much as $2,500 for tips that lead to an indictment.
