On a festive Mardi Gras in 2018, the vibrant celebrations in New Orleans were tragically cut short for 21-year-old Byron Jackson. He was shot and killed on February 13, 2018, in the Lower Ninth Ward. Another man, Jamar Robinson, who was 26 years old, also lost his life in the same incident, which left three other people wounded. Jackson was a 2015 graduate of McDonald 35 High School and was a student at Southern University at New Orleans at the time of his death.
The shooting occurred
near the corner of St. Claude Avenue and Andry Street, turning a day of revelry into one of violence and loss. The sister of Byron Jackson, Kadijah Jackson, later recalled the harrowing moment she found her brother dying inside a car after the shooting. Her testimony painted a grim picture of the aftermath, a stark contrast to the lively Mardi Gras party that had been taking place. The incident was a quintuple shooting that sent shockwaves through the community.
In the wake of the shooting, an investigation was launched, which soon pointed to multiple suspects. An eyewitness identified Kendall Barnes as one of the shooters from a six-person lineup, leading to a warrant for his arrest being issued in March 2018. Barnes was subsequently taken into custody in May of that year and was booked on two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.
Another individual, Derrick Groves, was also implicated in the double murder. A jury convicted Groves on two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of Byron Jackson and Jamar Robinson. Groves's criminal activities did not end with this conviction, as he also pleaded guilty to manslaughter in two other separate fatal shootings. His case gained further notoriety when he and nine other inmates escaped from a New Orleans jail, leading to a five-month manhunt before he was recaptured in Atlanta. Following his recapture, Groves was sentenced to two life sentences for the 2018 Mardi Gras murders.
