Shandon Barnes Jr.

Father of 4 shot dead in broad daylight at a busy intersection
Known to his loved ones as "Big Man," Shandon Barnes Jr. was a 26-year-old father of four who could always pick you up when you were down and bring a smile to your face. His sisters, Jamika and Tylanna, remember him as a family man who wasn't involved in gangs or violence, making his eventual death all the more puzzling and painful. Shandon, a Black man, lived just blocks from where he was killed in his New Orleans community and worked at a local car wash. His absence has left a profound void. "It just took a big part of us," his sister Tylanna said. "The holidays are not the same. We can't fight over the stuffing at Thanksgiving. It's just not the same."

On the afternoon of Friday, September 12, 2014, Shandon was driving his blue Chevrolet Trailblazer in the Algiers neighborhood. At around 4 p.m., as he traveled on Flanders Street near General Meyer, a 4-door silver car reportedly pulled up alongside him. Someone inside the silver vehicle opened fire in the middle of the busy intersection in broad daylight. Shandon was struck multiple times by the gunfire.

Losing control of his vehicle, Shandon’s Trailblazer veered off the road and crashed into the fence of an apartment building near the intersection of Socrates and Flanders streets. When first responders from the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) arrived at the scene, they found Shandon inside his vehicle. He was pronounced dead from his injuries right there at the scene.

The NOPD investigation began immediately. Detectives started to piece together the events of that afternoon, quickly coming to believe the shooting was not a random act. According to Detective Richard Chambers of the NOPD Cold Case Division, the evidence suggested the killing may have been retaliatory. "It appears that he had a confrontation with the gentleman a couple months prior and maybe this was retaliatory for that," Chambers stated.

Two months after the homicide, investigators publicly announced they were searching for a man named Wellington Cornin, Sr., who they believed might have crucial information about Shandon's murder. However, Cornin was never formally charged in connection with the case. A year later, Cornin was arrested and ultimately pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the separate 2015 shooting death of another man, Aaron Bannister, for which he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. While authorities felt they were getting closer, they still lacked the information needed to bring Shandon's case to court.

The years since have been filled with unanswered questions and unrelenting grief for Shandon’s family. "I don't sleep as often. I cry almost every day," his sister Jamika shared. "We go to the graveyard almost every Saturday. It hurts even more to watch his kids ask us questions their daddy and we can't give them answers." The family continues to plead for anyone with knowledge of the crime to come forward and provide them with some measure of peace. "Say what you know what you've seen, what you may have heard," Jamika begged. "Just give my mom some kind of clarity, my family some kind of closure."

As of January 2016, the investigation into the murder of Shandon Barnes Jr. is being handled by the NOPD Cold Case Division and remains unsolved. His family is left to grapple with the pain of his death being one of over one hundred unsolved homicides in New Orleans from that year. A reward of up to $2,500 is being offered by Crime Stoppers of Greater New Orleans for information leading to an arrest and indictment in this case. Anyone with information is urged to contact the NOPD Cold Case Division at 504-658-5300.