Covid- 19: Police Officer Shot Dead Over Mask

A police officer was shot and killed in New Orleans during a dispute over mask requirements at a high school basketball game.

Police said 35-year-old John Shallerhorn tried to enter George Washington Carver 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, reported NOLA.com.

Shallerhorn fought with the school employee before 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, police said.

00:0202:03

Shallerhorn then placed his gun on the ground, police said, and Orleans Parish sheriff’s deputies who were at the school arrested him.

Mitchum was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Before the shooting, Shallerhorn also robbed a medallion chain at gunpoint from a 39-year-old man sitting in a parked car.

Shallerhorn could potentially face the death penalty on charges of first-degree murder of a police officer and armed robbery.