Mandina’s restaurant New Orleans security officer involved with shoot-out with men who gunned down employee
New Orleans LA April 30 2023
A private security guard at Mandina’s restaurant returned fire when two people gunned down an employee and inadvertently wounded a diner at the Mid-City New Orleans restaurant, interim Police Superintendent Michelle Woodfork said Saturday.
Although investigators have not publicly described a motive, Woodfork said the employee was the killers’ intended victim. The wounded customer, she said, “had no direct relation to those who committed this crime.”
Hilbert Walker III, was shot dead outside Mandina’s restaurant in New Orleans on Friday, April 28, 2023.
The diner, a 54-year-old woman from Chicago, was in town for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Woodfork said, and was inside Mandina’s “to celebrate the birthday of a friend,” when the shooting occurred.
Witnesses have reported that two people arrived at the restaurant in a car Friday night. At about 8:20 p.m., while the 23-year-old employee was outside, they shot him dead. His family has identified him as Hilbert Walker III.
A bullet also penetrated the building and wounded the Chicago woman, as diners hit the floor for cover.
Woodfork said Mandina’s regularly has armed security. On Friday night, she said, the guard “did return fire at these individuals.” She said the security guard was not injured.
In a city with a deep economic interest in tourism, on the first weekend of a festival that draws tens of thousands of visitors from out of town to the New Orleans Fair Grounds, hotels and restaurants, the police chief stressed public safety.
“This was an isolated incident that did not occur in the vicinity of the festival,” she said. “It does not have any direct relation to our festival.”
Mandina’s is about two miles from the Fair Grounds. Woodfork said the Police Department has 150 to 180 officers working at or near the Fair Grounds during festival hours.
Police continued to investigate the shooting Saturday but had not obtained any arrest warrants, Woodfork said.
