BATON ROUGE — A New Orleans woman accused of blocking interstate traffic, pounding on vehicles and shooting a gun has been charged with attempted murder and related crimes. One bullet grazed a man’s head.
Lelia Habib, 63, was arrested July 5 and formally charged Friday with attempted second-degree murder, aggravated criminal damage to property, aggravated assault with a firearm, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and two counts of illegal use of a weapon, according to court records.
Habib is accused of a bizarre outburst on Interstate 110 near the airport that included firing a shot that grazed a man’s head and climbing into the bed of another man’s truck and smashing his back window with her gun, according to police.
The man whose head was grazed by a bullet told police that she was standing in traffic, moving from one lane to another to keep vehicles from moving. He said she blocked his lane, pulled a gun and fired a shot into the air. He tried to drive around her to get away, but bumped her with the truck, according to her arrest warrant.
Habib allegedly pointed her gun at the driver and fired through his windshield, grazing his head, arrest records show. As he tried to escape, he hit both a retaining wall and Habib’s car.
Another man told police Habib was moving erratically while trying to get vehicles to stop. He said he tried to tell her that he was calling 911, but she banged on the door of his truck and did the same to the front of the truck, the warrant said.
Then, he said, she suddenly climbed into the bed of his truck and fired another shot into the air. He called 911 and tried to drive to a safe location,. She is accused of damaging the rear window of the truck by hitting it with her gun.
He got off the interstate and drove to a Scenic Highway church. There, he said, she got out of the truck bed and fired another shot before police arrived and captured her, records show.
The court is evaluating Habib’s sanity.
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