By Kevin McGill
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Two men who admitted shooting into a crowd during a 2013 Mother's Day parade, wounding 20 people, were sentenced in federal court Tuesday in connection with that and other crimes involving years of drug and gang violence.
Akein Scott, 22, and Shawn Scott, 27, were among four brothers sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release. Akein and 31-year-old Travis Scott received life sentences; Shawn Scott and 24-year-old Stanley Scott each received 40 years.
All pleaded guilty last year to multiple charges arising from their involvement in the Frenchmen-Derbigny gang.
The overall case involved years of cocaine and heroin trafficking, illegal gun possession and violence, including shootings, to intimidate rivals. The Mother's Day shooting, involving Akein and Shawn, was just one element of it but it drew widespread, unwanted attention in a city where the neighborhood parade culture is a source of pride and often a tourist draw.
Blurry surveillance video caught part of what happened. It showed a man stepping away from a building and firing toward a street where the Original Big 7 Social Aid and Pleasure Club was leading its annual neighborhood Mother's Day parade in New Orleans' 7th Ward.
Police named Shawn Scott and Akein Scott as suspects soon after the shooting. They were arrested within days.
State charges eventually were dropped in favor of the federal prosecution. The indictment listed the Scotts as drug distributors and "gunmen" for the gang and said they carried out various acts of violence against rival gang members. It listed 20 purported targets in the Mother's Day shooting, identifying them by their initials.
Published: Thu, Mar 31, 2016
