A New Orleans police officer was shot and killed during a dispute over mask requirements at a high school basketball game at George Washington Carver High School Friday.
Authorities said 35-year-old John Shallerhorn tried to enter the High School’s gymnasium Friday about 6:15 p.m. for a playoff game against Warren Easton High when he was stopped by an employee who was checking temperatures and enforcing a mask mandate. Shallerhorn refused to wear a mask and instead started to fight with the school employee.
That’s when Martinus Mitchum, a Tulane University police officer and 2nd City Court deputy constable who was working for the school as a security guard, tried to break up the altercation.
The 38-year-old Mitchum was escorting Shallerhorn off the campus when the man allegedly pulled out a gun and shot the officer twice, NOLA.com reported, citing investigators. Mitchum was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Shallerhorn was later arrested by New Orleans Parish sheriff’s deputies who were at the school, according to the report.
The news outlet also reported that Shallerhorn robbed a medallion chain at gunpoint from a 39-year-old man sitting in a parked car hours before the shooting Mitchum.
He could potentially face the death penalty on charges of first-degree murder of a police officer and armed robbery.
