A career criminal with 24 misdemeanor and felony arrests since his early teens, Bridges was described by New Orleans police as a hoodlum whose offenses covered "everything but treason." Facing trial on fresh charges of armed robbery, he was free on bail when officers stopped him for questioning on December 7, 1987 -- the day before his twenty-ninth birthday. Reaching for a stolen pistol, he was shot to death before he had a chance to fire. Ballistics tests performed upon the weapon linked Bridges with two local murders in the past eleven days. The first victim , on November 27, had been Lilly Russell, 50, killed after Bridges and accomplice Jimmy Johnson deliberately rammed her car on the street. As Russell stepped out to survey the damage, Bridges had drawn his pistol, demanding money, shooting the woman to death when she refused. On December 5, 51-year-old Phyllis Bell had been slain after Bridges assaulted her husband outside their home. Coming to investigate the sounds of struggle, she was shot and killed as Bridges fled the crime scene . In death, Bridges cleared both cases, leaving Johnson to stand trial as an accessory in the Russell homicide.