Perhaps it was reminiscent of a presidential campaign bus in some ways: all the dignitaries were there, and there were multiple stops made with plenty of hands shaken.
Shreveport’s mayor, police and fire chiefs, parks and recreation director and a new U.S. Attorney boarded a city bus for National Night Out, leaving the downtown kickoff party at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday.
Like a campaign, good news mingled with bad. As the night of parties drew to a close, word of Shreveport’s 34th homicide of the year came from two miles south of the final stop of the night. That’s the distance from the 900 block of Erie Street, where the bus stopped for a block party after sunset, just down Line Avenue to A.B. Palmer Park on E. 79th Street, where an unidentified male was shot point-blank in the chest.
Already on the radar of most of the others on the ride — Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith, Shreveport Fire Chief Clarence Reese and Mayor Tom Arceneaux among them — gun crime in Shreveport will be a priority for newly appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana Zachary Keller, who took the opportunity to learn more about the city by riding along…