Barnes is being held on 2nd degree murder and attempted 2nd degree murder charges with a combined bond set at $1.5 million.
The dead woman, Julie Couvillon, was a 36-year-old nurse and mother. She had a daughter and worked at Ochsner.
Here is the news release from NOPD:
NOPD has arrested a 37-year-old local male, Louis Barnes and booked him with Second Degree Murder of a 36-year-old local female and Attempted Second Degree Murder of a 23-year-old local male. The incident took place inside of a business in the 400 block of Bourbon Street.
At approximately 3:10 a.m., an armed security guard working inside of the business attempted to remove the suspect from the business. As the security guard was escorting the suspect from the business, a struggle ensued. During the struggle, the suspect managed to discharge the security guards firearm several times fatally wounding a 36-year-old female and striking the security guard to the neck and striking himself to the shoulder. Officers were in the block, heard the gunfire and immediately apprehended the suspect without further incident.
The 36-year-old female was transported to the hospital where she later died. The security guard and suspect were transported to the hospital for treatment.
Originally, it was thought a fourth person had been shot, but investigators now believe that person was not injured by gunfire, but by something else during the incident.
Officers recovered the weapon used in the incident and are viewing video footage of the incident.
The investigation is ongoing and no further information is available at this time. The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office will release the identity of the victim and conduct an autopsy to determine the exact cause death.
