French Quarter arrests show volatile atmosphere before Bourbon Street shooting

Most of the people swarming the French Quarter for the Thanksgiving weekend were simply out to have a good time.

But New Orleans police said they also found 11 men who were ready for a fight. None of the 11 men arrested on gun charges are accused of taking part in the Sunday morning shootout on Bourbon Street that wounded nine and killed one, but their arrests provide a window into the volatile atmosphere that preceded the shooting.

Eleven people in total were arrested on counts of illegal possession of a firearm, according to the New Orleans Police Department. Arrest reports for four of them show that drug use or a fist fight preceded some of the arrests.

Late on Friday night, for instance, police said that three plainclothes officers spotted a man rolling a marijuana cigar in the 100 block of Royal Street.

As they approached Jamal Falls, the 29-year-old New Orleans man dropped the cigar and tried to grind it into the concrete. As the officers patted Falls down, they said, they found a black, semi-automatic Ruger .380 in his right rear pocket. Falls, who already had two drug convictions on his record, was booked on possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of marijuana.

Another cigar full of weed led to the arrest of Ty'aaron Robinson, 22, in the 700 block of Canal Street just after midnight on Saturday, according to police. Plainclothes officers said they found a Smith & Wesson 9mm in Robinson’s waistband when they patted him down.

Then at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, a “concerned citizen” told police that a man in an orange shirt had a gun on Bourbon Street. Police said they found Alton Whittey, 25, nearby on Canal Street with a handgun in his waistband. He also had a plastic bag with marijuana inside, police allege.

Even after the shooting occurred the arrests continued, police said. Officers breaking up a fist fight in the 600 block of Canal Street took one of the men involved into custody, according to an arrest report. Police said that Naqueal Tucker, 37, tried to drop a Glock .40 caliber to the ground. Officers arrested the man and booked him on illegal possession of a stolen gun, among other counts, an arrest report said.

Tucker was arrested at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday — just an hour after the shooting on Bourbon Street.