Two men indicted for murder in 2018 Mardi Gras mass shooting

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Two men have been indicted for double-murder by the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office in connection to the shooting of five people at a Lower 9th Ward party on Mardi Gras of 2018.

The indictment handed up Thursday by an Orleans Parish grand jury charges Kendall Barnes and Derrick "Woo" Groves identically with seven counts each related to the mass shooting on Feb. 13, 2018.

The indictment was unsealed Friday, following Groves' early morning arrest in Slidell by the FBI’s Violent Crime Task Force. Barnes has been in federal custody for the past four months.

Each is charged with two counts of second-degree murder for the slayings of 26-year-old Jamar Robinson and 21-year-old Byron Jackson, and with two counts of obstruction of justice in a homicide investigation.

The indictment also charges the alleged gunmen with three counts of attempted second-degree murder, for the shootings of three other men in their mid-20s who survived the Fat Tuesday barrage at 8:18 p.m. in the 5400 block of St. Claude Avenue.

Barnes, 22, and Groves, 21, face mandatory lifetime prison sentences if convicted of either murder charge, and 10 to 50 years each if found guilty on the attempted murder counts. Obstruction of justice in a homicide investigation is punishable by up to 40 years in prison upon conviction.

New Orleans police believe Barnes and Groves opened fire with assault-style rifles upon the five victims outside the crowded party. Three victims were struck as they sat in a red Nissan Altima, while two others were wounded while on the sidewalk near the corner of St. Claude Avenue and Andry Street.