NEW ORLEANS — Two people opened fire on a waiter at Mandina’s just about three weeks ago and one arrest has been made but there has been no public identification of a second shooter at this time.
An arrest warrant shows that 22-year-old Kyron Fazande is one of two people suspected to have pulled up at the restaurant in a red vehicle on a busy Friday night, run up to Hilbert Walker III as he was serving a table, and began firing several rounds, that the report says, “continued after he was down.”
During the shooting, a security guard at Mandina’s fired back as the suspects went back to the car. The driver opted to flee on foot instead and the passenger drove the vehicle away up Canal Street towards Carrollton. The vehicle was found in the 200 block of South White Street a little over an hour later. It is believed that the vehicle was also involved in an unspecified hit and run.
Fazande remained in a Texas jail, awaiting extradition to Louisiana. He faces second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and aggravated battery counts.
A second person inside of the restaurant, a 54-year-old woman, was also struck.
According to the report, detectives searched the red vehicle five days later and found Fazande’s wallet, license and social security card.
The shooting at Mandina's was a high profile crime that comes as part of a surge in violent crime reported across the city. Statistics show violent crime down slightly in New Orleans in 2023 vs. 2022, but the numbers are higher than most other recent years.