In the vibrant and often tumultuous streets of New Orleans, the life of 39-year-old Shawn Hubbard, a White male, came to a violent end on the evening of October 21, 2023. That night, at approximately 9:01 p.m., police responded to a call of a man down in the 1000 block of North Peters Street. Upon arrival, they discovered Hubbard lying on a walkway, having sustained gunshot wounds. Emergency medical technicians arrived at the scene but were unable to save him, and he was pronounced deceased.
Two days later, the Orleans Parish Coroner's Office formally identified the victim as Shawn Hubbard and determined his cause of death to be from the gunshot wound injuries he sustained.
The investigation into Hubbard's death led New Orleans Police Department Homicide Section detectives to identify a suspect. Through their investigation, they positively identified Donald Delaune as the alleged perpetrator and secured an arrest warrant for him on one count of second-degree murder. On the morning of November 29, 2023, members of the NOPD's Violent Offender Warrant Squad, along with the U.S. Marshals, located and arrested Delaune in the 1000 block of North Claiborne Avenue. He was subsequently booked into the Orleans Parish Justice Center. At the time of his arrest for the murder of Shawn Hubbard, Delaune was also booked on 20 outstanding warrants related to multiple business burglary incidents across several districts in the city.
Prior to his untimely death, Shawn Hubbard had his own encounters with law enforcement. In April 2022, the New Orleans Police Department had identified him as a suspect in an aggravated battery by cutting incident. Hubbard, who was also known by the aliases 'Smurf' or 'Goblin,' was accused of stabbing a victim during a physical altercation that reportedly began as a verbal dispute near the intersection of Governor Nicholls Street and French Market Place. An arrest warrant was issued for Hubbard on a charge of attempted second-degree murder in connection with that event. It is unclear from available information if he was ever apprehended for this incident before his death.
