Police: Mom Gave Son a Gun to Take Revenge

by Jordan Yerman | February 8, 2007 at 09:13 am

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Let's add this to the parent/child violence file, along with this. When those "The Anti-Drug" commercials talk about getting involved with your child's day-to-day life, this is not what they had in mid.

A mother and her teenage son have been accused of second-degree murder, with police saying the mother gave him a gun after he lost a fight and told him to take revenge.

The name of the 17-year-old victim was not immediately released. Vanessa Johnson, 44, and Clarence Johnson, 17, have not been found, New Orleans police Sgt. Joe Narcisse said Thursday.

New Orleans, still coping with the effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, is struggling with a recent surge in violence.

The city saw nine killings in the first eight days of this year, and police last month increased patrols, set up early-morning checkpoints and rushed murder cases through the court system.

National Guard troops and state police remain in the city after being called in last summer to help fight a similar spike in violence.