The New Orleans Police Department says it has cleared a homicide case that was first reported as a suicide.
Shortly before 4 a.m. August 14, NOPD was called to the 4200 block of Freret Street about an attempted suicide.
There, officers found 39-year-old Samantha Petry unresponsive. New Orleans EMS pronounced her dead at the scene.
Police later reclassified the case as a homicide, believed to be domestic in nature.
That same day, identified 44-year-old Desmond Cooper as a suspect.
"Detectives were later advised that a subject matching Cooper's description had been located at the intersection of North Norman C. Francis Parkway and Iberville Street and was possibly armed," said police "As officers arrived on scene, they heard a single gunshot and, soon after, found Cooper suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was transported to a local medical center and was later declared deceased."
