New Orleans, LA – A 73-year-old White tourist was savagely beaten to death while his Wife helplessly watched from a nearby bathroom. The alleged killer, a 29-year-old Hispanic food service worker, now claims the only thing he remembers about the night of the brutal attack is “tacos and beer.”

According to police reports, 73-year-old David Sorenson—a White grandfather and husband of 50 years —was found dead in his New Orleans hotel room with swelling and bruising to his face. Police say that 29-year-old Martin Hurtado, a Hispanic man who was wandering the sixth-floor hallway, was caught on security camera banging on every door with the aim of gaining entrance into random guest rooms.

During this time, Police assert that someone in the area pulled a fire alarm, causing Sorenson’s wife, Barb, to open the door to the hotel corridor. That’s when Hurtado was able to gain access, barreling past her and into the room. Once inside, he flung himself onto David and subjected him to a prolonged and savage beating. Frightened for her life, Barb ran into the hotel bathroom. Before shutting and locking the door, police report that she saw Hurtado attack her husband with her own two eyes.

“Suddenly, she heard a knock on the door and when she went to open it, an unknown male entered the room, pushed her into the room, and told her ‘I’m not here, don’t tell anyone I’m here”…Fearing for her safety, the victim’s wife ran toward the hotel bathroom, but before closing the door, she observed the male punching her husband in the face.”

Homicide Detective Miles Guirrer, NOPD

Police later arrested Hurtado on the scene and booked him into Orleans Parish Justice Center, charging him with second-degree murder. According to an affidavit written by Homicide Detective Miles Guirrer, Hurtado said during interrogation that “all he could remember was drinking at work, Tacos and Beer but he could not remember anything after that.”

The 73-year-old victim was taken to a local hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries. The New Orleans Police Department has insisted, despite’ Hurtado’s history of violent crime, that Sorenson’s murder is nothing more than a “random act of violence.” According to court records, Hurtado once plead guilty in 2010 to two counts of simple battery in St. Tammany Parish.

For his alleged role in the killing of a 73-year-old White pensioner, Hurtado was only issued a $350,000 bond. In Louisiana, only 10% of that amount needs to be paid upfront to a bondsman in order for a suspect to walk free. But, with the existence of non-profit organizations operating under the auspices of “criminal justice reform,” and with access to legal aid societies capable of potentially taking up Hurtado’s case pro-bono, this means that the suspect only needs to raise an alarmingly low $35,000 in order to be let out on his own recognizance.

“The narrative pieced together from security camera footage and Hurtado’s statement to detectives points to a bizarre and random act of violence.”

Homicide Detective Miles Guirrer

But while the New Orleans Police Department might appear stunned at the sudden “random act of violence” which claimed the life of the septuagenarian, David Sorenson, the non-White violence epidemic which has gripped the Big Easy should hardly come to them as a surprise. In fact, this murder is but one more in a long, string of gruesome White slayings that has served to propel the city of New Orleans to the top spot as the deadliest city in the United States.

“One of the things we know Dr. King stood for was non-violence… Let’s focus on how we can lift up justice where we live, amongst ourselves, amongst our own people. This is what we need to do right here, and right now.”

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “

Just last week, Reverand Otis Young, 71, a recently retired pastor of St. Peter’s Catholic Church, and his female parochial assistant, Ruth Prats, 73, were beaten, stabbed, and found burned beyond all recognition behind a local business. Using video surveillance, Police were able to quickly arrest the recently paroled 49-year-old Antonio Tyson. Tyson—who is Black—had just completed 30 years of a 40-year sentence for breaking into a woman’s home, raping her at gunpoint, and stealing her car.

While rapes of this severity typically are meted with mandatory life sentences, Tyson’s aggravated rape sentence was dropped to only “forcible rape” after he took a generous plea deal in 1993. This made him eligible for parole, but while being able to get out of jail ten years early for an abhorrent violent crime is an alarming prospect in and of itself, the gravity of Antonio Tyson’s chaotic villainy is put into greater perspective when we further examine Louisiana law.

Due to sentencing guidelines in place when Tyson committed his original crimes, the Black career criminal was only required to serve half of his sentence before being released onto “good time” parole supervision. According to a representative from the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, under those guidelines, he should have been eligible to get out of prison years ago on Feb. 1, 2012

But Tyson’s conduct while in prison was so violent and so disruptive, he had 4,219 days of “good time” deducted from his grand total, pushing his release date to August 21st of this year. According to prison records, Tyson added 400 incidents of misbehavior and acts of violence while incarcerated, including 155 “disobedience incidents” and a whopping nine new sex offenses.

Just this weekend, after being arrested for the double murder of Young and Prats, Tyson’s lifelong violent crime spree continued. Originally reported by WDSU New Orleans, Tyson attempted an escape from the St. Tammany Parish jailhouse alongside an accomplice on Saturday, causing $1000 worth of damage to a cell and triggering his transfer to a more secure lockup at Angola.

But the history of heartwrenching violence only continues from there. Earlier in the year, a White grandmother was carjacked as she was pumping gas at a New Orleans Costco superstore. The suspects, four Black teenagers all with prior criminal histories, reportedly tore 73-year-old Linda Frickey out from her Nissan Pathfinder, only for the elderly woman’s arm to get stuck inside the seatbelt. The gang of Black hoodlums then sped off with the car, dragging Frickey for an entire block, ripping her arm off her body, and leaving her naked in the street. The botched carjacking ended up killing Frickey, and now all four suspects face murder charges.

But what exactly is the root cause behind the wanton chaos and violent outbursts in a city once known for its cajun cuisine, Mardi Gras parades, and rustic bayou charm? While the answers are varied, some have pointed the finger directly at police leadership. Under the four-year guidance of recently retired Black police chief, Shaun Ferguson, the department saw its ranks shrink to under 1000 uniformed police officers.

With a total population of approximately 376,971 people living in New Orleans, that amounts to roughly one cop for every 376 citizens. The major deficit in the police ranks has aided in kickstarting a violent crime wave that in 2021, averaged about one death in the Big Easy every single day. One retired Sergeant with the NOPD even claimed that these numbers were far worse than they appeared and that the city was cooking the books on its public-facing website in order to save face.

As a response, a desperate city apparatus chose to inject $80 million over the course of three years in order to provide incentives for hiring new recruits and entice existing officers to stay walking the beat. But some say it’s still not enough. The unnamed Sergeant attested that, in reality, there were only 430 officers actually patrolling the streets at any given time.

“Money’s not going to solve the problem. You’ve got to acknowledge that these are human beings that are sacrificing, quite possibly, their very lives, and make it seem worth it to them… If you’ve got three, maybe four officers working an entire district, you’re not going to clear all the calls. And those calls are going to start adding up.”

Retired Police Sergeant, WVUE

Still, some blame the courts. In 2013, in the wake of an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, the NOPD was forced by the Obama administration to reform its policies and procedures and acquiesce to leftist political pressures. The anti-White policing reforms greatly reduced the ability of the department to combat violent crime, abilities which were key in wresting control of the city back from Black looters, gangs, and killers that roamed the ruins of a post-Katrina New Orleans back in 2005.

Known as the “Consent Decree,” this federally mandated court order is supposed to provide a “broad, extensive blueprint for positive change.” But according to police organizations that represent rank-and-file officers, the policies themselves establish tight restrictions on car chases, constrain officers’ ability to search dangerous suspects, and create a draconian fear of heavy-handed discipline if an officer happens to break any one of the many new liberal rules and regulations.

In fact, the federal oversight imposed by this reform order has been so stifling to the demands of law and order, that even Black New Orleans Mayor, LaToya Cantrell, is seeking to end the pact early, calling it an “unnecessary bureaucratic burden on the understaffed force.”

But while all of these issues don’t exactly make fighting violent crime any easier, the root of the issue—like in many other prominent American cities in 2022—runs far deeper than the actions of any one court or individual. The Justice Report sat down with Mr. Bingle, a lifelong resident of New Orleans for his thoughts on the rapidly worsening crime situation taking place in his hometown.

What does he blame for all the chaos? Demographics.

“The problem is that Blacks are now marauding in these White parts of the city,” said Mr. Bingle, who chose not to disclose which neighborhood he lived in fear of retaliation amidst a highly volatile political situation. “Your degree of safety depends almost on a block-by-block basis. Certain microneighborhoods are the problem.”

“It shouldn’t be hard here. New Orleans has some horrible violence but it’s really one of the last places in America that has a real community, one that crosses racial lines. Blacks and Whites have been here for centuries and despite this being a real city that could be so much better. But it just isn’t.”

Mr. Bingle, Lifelong Resident

Only by examining the oft-overlooked racial demographics of New Orleans can we begin to understand why the violence in NOLA might be so widespread, grotesque, and persistent.

Historically, the city of New Orleans has always held a substantial Black population. But even as recent as the 1940s, the city still held a majority White population, clocking in at 69.7% per the United States Census. Fast forward to 2022, however, and the situation morphs. According to the 2020 Census Report, the White population has swiftly retreated, now numbered at a mere 31.61%, replaced by an increasing tide of color which include Asians, Hispanics, and of course, Blacks.

“The Blacks are mostly concentrated in New Orleans East, not so much in the historic part of the city. The big change has been that it used to be that Black violence was confined to Black areas for the most part,” said Mr. Bingle. “The big change since 2020 and the summer of Floyd, was now you’re seeing violent Blacks bleed over into White areas. Midcity, where the Costco incident happened, was an upper-middle-class White district.”

“You notice the stories more when the victims are White, of course, but even watching the local news about Black-on-Black crimes, it’s heartbreaking. If you see a 12-year-old kid and he’s at a bus stop and he gets shot in the head, White or Black, that’s just horrific and it needs to be put down.”

Mr. Bingle

Violent non-White criminals have a tendency of targeting the elderly for their perceived weakness and higher-than-average personal wealth. In recent years, the prolific Black serial killer, Billy Chemirmir, preyed on elderly women—mostly White—by killing them for their petty cash and other valuables inside senior living homes. He was convicted of multiple murders and could face the death penalty in upcoming trials. In October, an 83-year-old grandfather was shoved and killed by a Black shoplifter stealing low-end power tools from a Home Depot. The alleged suspect is still at large.

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