NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) is searching for a male suspect who is allegedly responsible for striking a woman in the head with a gun in his hand during a French Quarter bathroom altercation.
Around 4 A.M. Tuesday, police received a call about an aggravated battery at Big Easy Daiquiri Shop, located on Bourbon Street.
The victim said she and a friend stopped inside the bar to use the bathroom and heard an unknown person beating on the main door.
The victim said she opened the door in an attempt to leave when she saw the black male suspect try to enter the bathroom, as seen in surveillance footage provided by NOPD.
At that time, the victim said she shoved the man backwards against the door frame before he allegedly struck her to the upper-left side of the face with his hand while he concealing a small chrome handgun, causing her to bleed.
The victim and her friend hid in a stall before the suspect stepped away from the door and back into the main bar area before fleeing onto Bourbon Street.
NOPD Public Information Officer Aaron Looney told Breitbart Texas that from the surveillance footage and testimony of the victim, they are still unsure if the male suspect struck the woman in the face with his gun.
“We don’t know if it was the gun or his hand that led the victim to bleed from her head,” Looney said.
Video footage of the incident appears to show the women in the bathroom, though the physical contact between the suspect and the woman cannot be seen directly.
Looney said the female hit by the male suspect was the only victim in the incident, saying that none of the other women in the surveillance footage came in contact with the man.
Two persons left the bar that night with the male suspect, according to Looney. Neither has come forward to NOPD yet to identify the suspect they allegedly accompanied.
Looney said NOPD officers responded within a minute after being called to the scene, which is expected as officers patrol Bourbon Street regularly on foot, along with Louisiana State Troopers who on horseback.
Violent crime and murder are not foreign to Bourbon Street or New Orleans in general. The city’s murder rate most recently surpassed 110 for the year thus far, according to the Times Picayune.
Witnesses or residents with information regarding the suspect or the incident are asked to contact NOPD detectives at 504-658-6080 or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-877-903-STOP.
John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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