Bar security guard shot to death after turning drunken man away, management says
A security guard is dead after he was shot outside a Louisiana bar, police said.
Officers were called at around 11:11 p.m. Sunday, April 7, about a shooting in the Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans, police said in a news release.
They found a man who had been shot, police said. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Family members identified him as Darriel King, 53, WWL-TV reported. King was working security at the Wit’s Inn Bar and Kitchen and was killed after reportedly turning a man away, according to the station.
Police didn’t say why the man was denied entry, but a spokesperson for the bar said he was “extremely intoxicated” and underage. The business has a 30-and-over age requirement, the spokesperson told McClatchy News.
King and the man got into a verbal dispute before the suspect pulled out a gun and shot him in the chest, WGNO reported.
Robert Packnett, a spokesperson for the bar, said King should be “hailed a hero” because he likely saved several lives that night.
“He put his life on the line,” Packnett told McClatchy News in a phone interview. “There’s no telling what this young man would’ve done if he was allowed on the premises.”
The accused shooter sped away in a car before officers arrived, WVUE reported.
Police didn’t release additional details but said the investigation is ongoing.
This story was originally published April 9, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Bar security guard shot to death after turning drunken man away, management says."