Source: Office of United States Attorneys
NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that on January 16, 2025, U.S. District Judge Barry W. Ashe sentenced BRIAN WARD (“WARD”), age 30, to 30 months imprisonment, for being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(8).
According to court documents, on January 7, 2024, WARD was arrested by the New Orleans Police Department following a physical altercation between WARD and another man in the 300 block of Bourbon Street. During the altercation, WARD produced a firearm he possessed and shot at the man. After WARD’s arrest, his firearm, a Taurus Model PTl40 G2, .40 caliber pistol, was recovered near a van where WARD had hidden it. Additionally, law enforcement recovered a spent .40-caliber shell casing from the scene that matched the gun recovered.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the New Orleans Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Katherine Kaufman of the General Crimes Unit oversees the prosecution.