Five more killed by gun violence identified by New Orleans coroner

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Bourbon Street bartender Spencer Hudson, whom police say was killed by a stray bullet that whizzed into his French Quarter nightclub early Sunday, was among the five latest victims of shooting homicides identified Monday (March 21) by the Orleans Parish Coroner’s office.

Hudson, 46, already had been identified to Fox 8 by a friend and former co-worker as the man killed inside the Cat’s Meow karaoke bar on Bourbon Street around 2:05 a.m. on Sunday. New Orleans police arrested Daphney Jackson, a 24-year-old woman, as the accused shooter in the incident.

Jackson is alleged to have fired the fatal shot from outside the bar at 701 Bourbon St. while involved in a dispute with someone else on the street, inadvertently striking Hudson in the chest as he worked inside the nightclub. Jackson was booked with manslaughter, obstruction of justice and discharging a weapon during a violent crime. She is being held at the Orleans Justice Center jail in lieu of a $450,000 bond.

A man whom police say was ambushed last Wednesday (March 16) when he got out of a vehicle at 6:44 p.m. was identified as 39-year-old Aron Quinn. The NOPD said Quinn was gunned down near the corner of Willow and Third streets in Central City.

A teen slain March 17 in the 4600 block of Lafon Drive in the Plum Orchard area of New Orleans East was identified as 15-year-old Rodkeys Deion Petty. Police said Petty was found shot to death inside a car just after 5 a.m.

A woman found shot to death on a Central City sidewalk early Saturday (March 19) was named as 35-year-old Ciara Bullock. Police found Bullock in the 3000 block of South Saratoga Street around 2:45 a.m. The NOPD said she had been shot by an “unknown male,” but have not said whether they have developed a suspect or motive in the killing.

And another person shot in the Plum Orchard area Saturday was identified as 18-year-old Kayvon Le Blanc. Police said Le Blanc arrived at a hospital at 5:39 p.m. after being shot in the 4500 block of Dodt Avenue and soon was pronounced dead.

According to statistics compiled by the Metropolitan Crime Commission, New Orleans’ homicide count for 2022 stood at 57 as of Sunday, 43 percent higher than the year-to-date total for 2021, and 97 percent higher than through March 20 in 2019.

That was before a triple homicide early Monday morning in a St. Bernard area apartment and the murder of a woman in Mid City pushed this year’s tally to 61 homicides in the first 80 days of the new year.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.

Copyright 2022 WVUE. All rights reserved.