“Kyron Miller shudders as he recalls barely escaping amid gunfire after being robbed in the city’s Seventh Ward.
“He and a friend were walking on a secluded street one night in 2012 when two armed men took their wallets and phones.
“’They shot the gun a few times in the neighborhood,’ said Miller, now in his mid-20s. ‘Not a soul came outside.’
“The Seventh Ward is an expanse bordered by the Mississippi River, the heavily trafficked French Quarter and the fairgrounds that host the city’s annual Jazz Fest. The Seventh is one of the city’s poorer sections, with a higher crime rate than some nearby wealthier neighborhoods.”