Just after the last bursts of Mardi Gras faded into dawn, gunfire cracked through the 2900 block of Cleary Avenue in Metairie. Deputies were called around 2:10 a.m. on Wednesday, February 18, 2015, to reports of shots fired outside Mojo’s on Cleary, where a large crowd lingered in the parking lot as people spilled out from the bar. Investigators found bullet casings scattered across the scene, a stark trail marking how quickly a night out had turned into chaos.
Not long after, the violence followed the wounded into the hospitals. Around 2:30 a.m., East Jefferson Hospital reported that a patient had arrived with a gunshot wound to the chest, and early information briefly suggested the victim had died—only for deputies to learn that wasn’t true. The wounded man had been moved to University Hospital for treatment of gunshot injuries to both the chest and the neck. That victim was later identified as Darren Dedeaux, a 22-year-old male, and he remained hospitalized as the case unfolded.
The shooting did not end with him. Later that morning, at about 4:20 a.m., deputies were notified of another victim arriving at Ochsner with a gunshot wound to the hand. Investigators identified that man as 24-year-old Dintrell Jolla. While authorities indicated one victim was in critical condition, they did not publicly specify which one at that time. Around the scene, the gunfire had struck more than flesh: investigators said a business, two apartments, and three vehicles were hit by bullets, leaving a neighborhood to wake up to shattered quiet and damaged property.
For days, Dedeaux fought for his life. By Saturday evening, February 21, he was pronounced dead, ending the fragile hope that he might survive what happened outside the bar. Investigators described the case as still unfolding, with few details released publicly about who started the shooting or what sparked it, and they continued to treat it as an active investigation.
A week after the gunfire, deputies announced an arrest—but not the one many would expect in a fatal shooting. On February 25, investigators booked Anthony Miskell, 22, into the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center. According to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office as reported at the time, Miskell was alleged to have fired gunshots at the suspects who shot Dedeaux outside Mojo’s Bar. Authorities said no additional suspects had been identified, leaving the central question—who shot Darren Dedeaux—hanging over the case even as one man was taken into custody for his alleged role amid the exchange of gunfire.
