NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The public housing police officer shot and killed in his patrol car over the weekend is identified as a former Jefferson Parish reserve deputy who served briefly full-time.
Orleans Parish Coroner Jeffrey Rouse identified him Monday as 45-year-old James Bennett Jr., and says he died of a gunshot wound.
Crimestoppers director Darlene Cusanza said Tuesday that the reward for information leading to the killer’s arrest and conviction has been doubled to $5,000.
Bennett’s body was found Sunday in his car at the construction site where he was working overtime.
Jefferson Parish sheriff’s spokesman John Fortunato says Bennett was a reserve deputy from April 2000 until May 2013, spending about six months in 2006 as a full-time deputy.
The Housing Authority of New Orleans police department hired him in May 2013.
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