Police are searching for a hoodie-wearing man who tried to kidnap a woman off the street New Orleans, then shot a Tulane medical student who tried to intervene to save her.
The suspect, Euric Cain, 21, shot 25-year-old Peter Gold in the stomach. He then attempted to shoot Gold, execution-style, in the head, but his gun jammed.
Cain left Gold for dead and fled with the woman in his SUV. The entire episode was captured on a private surveillance camera.
Cain was wearing a hoodie–the same item of clothing that became a symbol of defiance on the left in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting in 2012. Martin had been wearing a hoodie when neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman began to follow him, leading to the altercation in which Martin was shot. The left, and many in the mainstream media, contended that young black men wearing hooded sweatshirts were being unfairly profiled by police because of racial prejudice.
Gold is a fourth-year medical student from Florida whose family has deep ties to Tulane. He is also Jewish, and was active in the Hillel, the Jewish student organization, as a Tulane undergraduate, according to the Times of Israel. New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison praised Gold, according to local CBS News affiliate WWL: “There’s no greater selfless act than to stop and help someone perhaps who you don’t know, for reasons you don’t know.” Harrison also vowed to capture the suspect.
Faculty and friends praised Gold effusively. Tulane president Michael Fitts told the Orlando Sentinel : “He did his undergraduate work at Tulane, where he was a very active member of the Tulane community…He is an outstanding student who represents the best of Tulane in every possible way.”
The university is offering a $10,000 reward for tips leading to an arrest, the local Advocate reports. The Gold family has asked for privacy, the Sentinel notes.
Tulane was also Andrew Breitbrt’s alma mater.