A 25-year-old Georgia man put his hands up when a New Orleans police officer sought to detain him downtown early Sunday (March 25), then later confessed to a shooting that had just occurred on Decatur Street, as well as two other violent crimes in Georgia and Alabama, police said.
Court records written by NOPD say that Brown admitted to a shooting in Columbus, Ga., as well as the hold-up of a gas station in Mobile, Ala. Detectives confirmed with out of-state authorities that those crimes occurred Friday night and Saturday, respectively.
The arrested man, Kwane Brown, of Columbus, told NOPD detectives he shot the man in a car behind his on Decatur Street because he thought the driver, “was after him,” according to an affidavit for Brown’s arrest. In New Orleans, Brown faces a charge of attempted first-degree murder. Orleans Parish Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell on Monday (March 25) appointed the Orleans Public Defender’s office to represent him.
According to the affidavit, Brown admitted during an interview at NOPD’s Royal Street police station that he was responsible for the shooting that occurred about 6:45 a.m. Sunday in the 100 block of Decatur. He gave the interview after signing his acknowledgment of his Miranda Rights, including his right to remain silent, after NOPD and Louisiana State Police troopers arrested him on Convention Center Boulevard near Canal Street, the affidavit states.
Man arrested in Sunday's Decatur Street shooting: NOPD
The affidavit refers to the arrested man both as Kwane Brown and Kwane Smith. Online court records and NOPD spokespeople identified him as Kwane Brown.
Just after Sunday’s shooting, French Quarter workers in yellow vests pointed a responding NOPD officer toward Brown’s silver Honda, telling the officer, “That’s him,” the affidavit states. The workers’ help led the officer to pull over Brown at Convention Center Boulevard. When asked if he had a gun in the car, the document states, Brown told the officer he did, and a trooper then located a Glock 45 under the driver’s seat, along with an additional loaded magazine.
When officers questioned Brown at the 8th District station, the affidavit states, Brown asked a detective what he was referring to, then alluded “to something that had occurred in Columbus.” Brown then said he came to New Orleans from Georgia and was parked on Bourbon Street when a car behind him “kept inching closer and flashing his lights at him,” the affidavit states. Brown told police the driver in the car behind him was on his phone, and Brown “thought that he was talking about him.” Brown also told police he looked back at one point and thought the driver behind him was “sleeping,” the affidavit states.
“Mr. Smith stated that he thought the guy was was [sic] after him and was in fear for his life so he got out of the car and ‘handled it,’” the affidavit states, continuing, “Mr. Smith confessed to shooting the male in the car behind him.”
The affidavit makes no mention of any possible prior connection between Brown and the person police say he admitted to shooting, including whether Brown recognized the person or the person’s car.
NOPD crime scene technicians recovered 11 shell casings from the scene of the Decatur shooting, the affidavit states. A 34-year-old man was sitting in his car when he was struck by the gunfire, then drove to the 800 block of Iberville Street, outside the Hyatt Hotel, for help. He was struck more than once and hospitalized, NOPD said Sunday.
Technicians performed a gunshot residue test on Brown, and it returned “presumptive positive” results, the affidavit states.
After the group of four or five workers in vests pointed to Brown’s silver Honda at the shooting scene, NOPD Sgt. Sam Dupre, a French Quarter Task Force officer, followed the car west on Decatur. The Honda turned left on Canal Street, then ran a red light at Canal and Tchoupitoulas streets, a detective wrote in the affidavit. The Honda then turned right on Convention Center Boulevard, where a bus “obstructed the silver Honda from going any further.” Dupre, at that point, told the Honda’s driver, identified in the affidavit as both Brown and Smith, to show his hands, a command the affidavits states was repeated “three to four times.” The “driver complied,” the affidavit states.
Alleged confession to Georgia shooting
Following Brown’s confession to the shooting, NOPD Detective Iain Watt asked Brown “what he was referring to that had occurred in Columbus.” Brown then told the detective, “he had shot some people in Columbus (near Martin Luther King) and that it was drug related,” the affidavit states. He also told Watt he thought, “he may have killed an innocent bystander.”
NOPD Detective Sharon Mahan spoke with a detective at the Columbus Police Department who told the detective police there responded to a shooting about 7:30 p.m. Friday (March 22) at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 10th Street in Columbus.
The affidavit then states, “The victim was taken to University Hospital where it was determined that he had 18 apparent entrance/exit wounds in his body with at least three to his head. The victim’s condition is currently stable." The affidavit was unclear, however, if the victim’s injury description and condition referred to a person shot Friday in Columbus or Sunday on Decatur Street in New Orleans. Asked to clarify on Monday, NOPD spokesman Gary Scheets said the department was not releasing additional information about the case, “so as not to jeopardize the developing investigations of other jurisdictions.”
Alleged confession to armed robbery in Mobile
After confessing to the Columbus shooting, the affidavit states, Brown told NOPD detectives that he fled Georgia and went to Mobile, Ala., to see his child, but wasn’t able to locate the child. While in Mobile, the document states he told police, Brown “robbed a gas station across the street from a Dollar General.” It says Brown told detectives, “he was thinking that he would be stopped by a road block along the way for what he had done.”
A sergeant from the Mobile Police Department told NOPD Detective Mahan a Conoco gas station in the 2700 block of Government Boulevard was robbed at gunpoint Saturday, the affidavit states. Google maps shows the Conoco is across the street from a Family Dollar store. The Mobile sergeant told Mahan a Silver Honda with Georgia plates was spotted on the scene of the armed robbery, as well as a man with a low haircut, “both consistent with Mr. Smith and his car,” the NOPD affidavit states.
Judge Cantrell on Monday set Brown’s bond at $200,000 and ordered a non-domestic stay-away order in the case. Brown’s next court hearing is scheduled for April 22.
It was not immediately clear if agencies in Mobile and Columbus plan to file charges against Brown or have already.
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