Man linked to 3 Houston murders now wanted in New Orleans

Robert Crowe:

Ivory "B-Stupid" Harris, the New Orleans murder suspect linked to three Houston homicides, is now a suspect in New Orleans' only recorded homicide on Fat Tuesday.

New Orleans police obtained an arrest warrant for Harris on one count of second-degree murder in the Feb. 28 shooting death of Jermaine Wise.

"We don't know where he's at, but we're actively looking for him," said Officer Jonette Williams, a New Orleans Police Department spokeswoman.

New Orleans officers responding to reports of gunfire found Wise, 22, dead about 1:30 a.m. inside a vehicle in the 5300 block of Constance Street.

Houston police launched a manhunt on Feb. 16 for Harris and four other Hurricane Katrina evacuees suspected in a number of homicides. After pleading with New Orleans residents here to come forward with information on Harris, police were told he was in New Orleans.

"We received so many calls that our intelligence led us to believe he was back in New Orleans," said Sgt. Brian Harris of the Houston Police Department's homicide division.

Ivory Harris and Jerome Hampton are suspects in the Dec. 28 slaying of Steven Kennedy. Hampton has been charged in Kennedy's death, which police say was a revenge killing for the 2003 murder of James "Soulja Slim" Tapp, a New Orleans rapper.

Police say Ivory Harris, 20, and Hampton are associated with the "Dooney Boys," a group formed in the Magnolia public housing community. The men have a green tattoo of a cross between their eyebrows which, a Dooney Boy member told Houston police, may be a symbol of their violent past.

In New Orleans, Ivory Harrishas an arrest record that includes two murder charges. He was in the Orleans Parish jail on a second-degree murder charge when Katrina struck on Aug. 29. Police believe he came to Houston after he was released from jail on Nov. 3.

Ivory Harris is linked to two other Houston homicides that may have been disputes over women, Harris said.

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