New Orleans police have arrested a man wanted in connection with a series of robberies and a shooting in the neighborhood near Tulane University after he was barricaded inside a house in the area on Monday morning.
Philip Barbarin, 24, surrendered to police after a five-hour clash with heavily armed officers at 2100 block of Audubon Street, officials said. A police spokesman said no one was injured during the clash and no shots were fired.
Police on Monday alleged that Barbarin was involved in up to seven robberies, including at least four that have happened near the Tulane campus since Saturday. One of these robbery victims – described as a subsidiary of Tulane – was shot. Another was shot but not hit, police said.
An unidentified man was shot Sunday afternoon in the Audubon area, according to New Orleans police.
The first of those robberies was reported Saturday morning, when two men held a victim near the corner of Lowerline and Willow streets, police said.
The two men approached another man on the near corner of Lowerline and Oak streets and allegedly stole his wallet and cell phone. The man, who was not affiliated with Tulane, had begun fleeing when one of the thieves shot at him, police and school officials said.
Philip Barbarin
Sunday night, around 9:40 p.m., a man with a gun robbed two people affiliated with Tulane University on two blocks of Broadway Street, police and school officials said.
One of the victims, a 21-year-old man who was detained on the corner of Broadway and Green, handed over unspecified property and was not injured. The other victim, a 20-year-old man, tried to flee and was shot. Police said paramedics took the injured to a local hospital for treatment.
Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said officers were in the neighborhood to conduct a follow-up investigation into the weekend robbery strip when a 1900 Broadway block hijack took place around 8 p.m. Officers spotted the stolen vehicle and Barbarin at block 2100 in Audubon.
Barbarin, who was suspected of the robberies and the shooting over the weekend, was running inside a house on that block when police approached, Ferguson said. Ferguson said he wasn’t sure if Barbarin lived there, but if not, he might have met someone who did, according to the superintendent.
Around 9:30 a.m., members of the special operations division of the police department (or SWAT team) surrounded the house.
A neighbor who was able to see the house where Barbarin was hiding described how officers equipped with long guns, helmets and armor cordoned off the street for several hours. There was also an armored vehicle at the scene and someone was using a loudspeaker to address the people inside the house.
At the beginning of the confrontation, at least two people left the house with their hands raised, were handcuffed by officers and were led for questioning. Barbarin was not either, and the confrontation continued.
Around two-thirty in the afternoon, the neighbor who was able to see the house where Barbarin was was hearing “a lot of men moving … and shouting.” Officers were soon seen carrying a handcuffed Barbarian, wearing a long-sleeved gray T-shirt and black trotting pants, away from the scene.
The resident, who was told to stay home, said he and his neighbors applauded when Barbarin was detained.
“Great police work,” the resident said in a text message.
Barbarin faces crimes of armed robbery with a gun, aggravated assault with a firearm, aggravated second-degree battery and fraud with debit or credit cards.
“This individual is a very violent individual,” Ferguson said.
He is suspected of taking an AR-15 rifle and threatening to kill a neighbor
