Clarence Mitchell

Clarence Mitchell, a 34-year-old Black man from New Orleans, was a devoted husband and father remembered by loved ones as a protector with a heart of gold. Known affectionately as "Hank" or "Clay," he worked as a truck driver and was described as a true people's person. He left behind his wife, Amber Oatis-Mitchell, and their young children.

On the afternoon of Sunday, February 17, 2019, Mitchell was attending a "second line," a traditional jazz funeral parade, in the Central City neighborhood. Around 1:30 p.m., gunfire erupted in the 2500 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Mitchell was fatally wounded after being struck by what one report called a stray bullet. A second individual was also injured in the shooting.

The New Orleans Police Department's investigation quickly focused on a person of interest. Less than two hours after the shooting, a man arrived at University Medical Center seeking treatment for a gunshot wound to his right foot. Detectives noted that his clothing and shoes appeared identical to those worn by a gunman captured on surveillance video shooting in Mitchell's direction before fleeing with an apparent foot injury. At the crime scene, officers had followed a blood trail to some shrubbery behind a nearby home, where they discovered a hidden handgun. Shoe imprints left in the blood trail matched the shoes worn by the man at the hospital.

Ballistics testing later linked the recovered gun to 13 bullet casings found at the scene of the shooting. The suspect was identified as Norman Lee, a 24-year-old convicted felon. In May 2019, an Orleans Parish grand jury indicted Lee on charges of second-degree murder, obstruction of justice, and being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with Clarence Mitchell's death. Lee had been in jail since the day after the shooting.

While the legal process began, Mitchell's family honored his memory with his own second-line parade. They carried a life-sized cutout of him through the streets, a local tradition meant to make it feel as though the deceased is celebrating with them. "With the lifesize, I got emotional," his wife said. "It’s almost like he’s there staring at you, and it’s something you want so bad, but you know that, it will never happen again." As of the indictment in May 2019, the case against Norman Lee was moving forward through the court system.