LaToya Cantrell stays out of sight after second-line shootings
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New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has not made any in-person, public comments about the second-line shootings that killed two and injured 11.
Why it matters: It continues her pattern of stepping away from the spotlight amid an ongoing federal investigation.
The big picture: The shootings happened Sunday afternoon at the Nine Times Social Aid and Pleasure Club's annual parade.
- Cantrell spent the weekend in Rio de Janeiro at the Urban 20 Mayor's Climate Summit, according to a statement from her office.
- She was scheduled to return to New Orleans "following the summit's conclusion on Monday," but her office didn't say when.
Zoom in: The city sent two emailed statements on Sunday and Monday offering "condolences and prayers" for the victims.
- Cantrell posted a video — recorded in what appears to be her office — Wednesday night talking about the tragedy and the importance of second-lines to the city's culture.
Meanwhile, NOPD chief Anne Kirkpatrick has led or attended multiple press conferences and community gatherings about the shootings. Council members have joined too.
- The mayor's director of communications attended at least one of the events, but not his boss.
Between the lines: WWL said a reporter asked Cantrell for comment at an event Wednesday and she declined.
- She was scheduled to be at a Crescent City Connection press conference Thursday afternoon, but that event was canceled after an electrical problem, Fox 8 reports.
- She did post a video late Thursday offering her condolences to the victims in the French Quarter quadruple shooting, the city's second mass shooting this week.
Zoom out: Cantrell's approval rating dropped to 33% in the most recent Quality of Life report from the University of New Orleans. It was 57% four years ago.
- She is term-limited and leaves office in 2026. The race has already begun for her job.
State of play: Cantrell has reduced her public availability this year, especially after her former bodyguard, Jeffrey Vappie, was indicted in July.
- City Council members and other City Hall leaders have been going to events that she previously attended.
Yes, but: So far, she hasn't experienced the public outrage for being MIA that then-Mayor Mitch Landrieu got in 2017 when he was out of town while the city had widespread flooding during thunderstorms.
- He wound up returning early (but not as early as his staff recommended) and touring damaged neighborhoods with then-Gov. John Bel Edwards, according to WWL.
- Landrieu told The Times-Picayune amid the criticism that he immediately returned to town for other "public safety emergencies," including the mass shooting at Bunny Friend Park in 2015 and the Bourbon Street shootings after the Bayou Classic in 2016.
The intrigue: Cantrell's office did not respond to questions from Axios on Thursday about her schedule and whether she was ill or had something else that prevented her from being in public this week.
- Rio was the mayor's second international work destination this month. She spoke at a conference in Barcelona earlier.
- The Louisiana Board of Ethics and City Council has previously questioned her busy travel schedule.