New Orleans police arrested a man wanted in connection with a series of robberies and a shooting in the neighborhood around Tulane University after he barricaded himself inside of a nearby home Monday morning.
Police arrest violent criminal in New Orleans
Philip Barbarin, 24, surrendered to police after a five-hour standoff with heavily armed officers in the 2100 block of Audubon Street, officials said. No one was wounded during the standoff, and no gunshots were fired, a police spokesperson said.
Police alleged Monday that Barbarin was involved in as many as seven robberies, including at least four that happened near Tulane’s campus since Saturday. One of those robbery victims — described as an affiliate of Tulane — was shot. Another was shot at but wasn’t hit, police said.
The first of those robberies was reported Saturday morning a little before 9 a.m., when two men held up a victim near the corner of Lowerline and Willow streets, police said.
The two men then allegedly stole the wallet and cellphone of another man they held up at the corner of Lowerline and Oak streets. The man had started running away when one of the robbers shot at him, police and school officials said.
On Sunday night, about 9:40 p.m., a man with a gun robbed two people affiliated with Tulane University two blocks apart on Broadway Street, police and school officials said.
One of the victims — a 21-year-old man who was held up at the corner of Broadway and Green — gave the robbers what they asked for and wasn’t hurt, police said. The other victim, a 20-year-old man, tried to flee and was shot. Police said paramedics took the wounded man to a local hospital for treatment.
The NOPD is working to confirm if the man who barricaded himself in an Uptown home is a carjacking suspect.
The victim tells me she believes Philip Barbarin is the suspect.
MORE COMING UP AT 5 @FOX8NOLA pic.twitter.com/a8zFRjTy4k
— Rilwan Balogun (@RilwanReports) February 8, 2021
SWAT Team called in to capture suspect
Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said that on Monday morning, officers were in the neighborhood for a follow-up investigation into the weekend robbery spree when someone was carjacked on Broadway. Officers spotted the stolen vehicle, as well as Barbarin, in the 2100 block of Audubon.
Barbarin was a suspect in the robberies and the shooting over the weekend, and he ran inside a home on that block when police approached, Ferguson said. Ferguson said he wasn’t sure if Barbarin lived there, but if not, he may have known someone who did, according to the superintendent.
About 9:30 a.m., members of the Police Department’s Special Operations Division — or SWAT team — surrounded the home.
A neighbor said officers equipped with long guns, helmets and body armor cordoned off the street for several hours. There was also an armored vehicle on the scene, and someone was using a loudspeaker to address people inside the surrounded home.
Early in the standoff, at least two people came out of the home with their hands up, were handcuffed by officers and led away for questioning, a police spokesperson said. Neither was Barbarin, and the standoff continued.
About 2:30 p.m., the neighbor heard “lots of men moving … and yelling.” Officers were soon seen taking a handcuffed Barbarin — in a long-sleeved, gray T-shirt and black jogging pants — away from the scene.
The resident, who was told to stay in his home, said he and his neighbors applauded when Barbarin was in custody.
Barbarin faces counts of armed robbery with a gun, aggravated assault with a firearm, aggravated second-degree battery and debit or credit card fraud.
“This individual is a very violent individual,” Ferguson said.
