NOPD arrests suspect in Uptown shooting

Sanjali De Silva, Senior Staff Reporter

New Orleans Police Department has arrested a 21-year-old man believed to be responsible for the death of 20-year-old University of Louisiana at Lafayette student Lee Long Jr.

Alec Billiot was booked Tuesday on one count of second-degree murder and five counts of attempted second-degree murder, according to Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office records. The attempted murder charges suggest that Long may have been with others at the time he was killed.

Long was killed in the early morning of Jan. 10. Tulane University Police Department responded to gunshots in the area and discovered Long inside a pickup truck with a bullet wound to his torso. He later died from the wound at the scene.

“New Orleans Police and EMS responded,” A TUPD crime alert read. “The victim informed officers that he was shot by multiple subjects who fled the area on foot towards Maple Street. Officers conducted a check of the area and verified that the subjects fled the area.”

According to his obituary, Long had was a third-year architecture major and was devoted to his future as an architect.

According to nola.com, Criminal District Court documents released Wednesday revealed that an unidentified eyewitness told police that Billiot killed Long. Details about the motive for the shooting remain unknown.

Magistrate Court Commissioner Melvin Zeno set bail for Billiot at $175,000. Billiot, however, was booked for violating the terms of his probation and is being held without bail on that count. If convicted of murder, Billiot would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

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