The owner of a Cherokee Street bar that many neighbors accused of being a magnet for crime was charged with murder earlier this week.
Arnaud Jones, 41, the owner of the Exotic Bar and Grill, was charged on Monday for a September 2022 murder which occurred when Jones allegedly fired from his downtown apartment out onto Lucas Avenue at men whom he suspected of trying to break into his car.
One individual was killed in the incident.
Jones is also facing charges of assault, armed criminal action and illegal gun possession.
Jones' bar and grill was already under intense scrutiny from neighbors when two people were killed outside of it two weeks ago. One of the victims was in their 20s, the other in their 40s. Two others were wounded. One of the victims had reportedly eaten dinner at the bar earlier in the evening.
The two killings occurred on Friday, May 5, the night before Cherokee Street's annual Cinco de Mayo Festival and People’s Joy parade.
In the wake of those shootings, Cherokee Street business owner Brittany Morris told the RFT that the Exotic Bar and Grill had long been a nuisance.
In the three years Morris owned Love Goddess Healing Oasis, next door to Exotic, she estimated there had been about five or six shootings outside the bar. Many of the incidents were captured on her store's surveillance camera.
Not long after speaking to the RFT, Morris announced she was closing her business due to safety concerns.
A spokesperson with the city's Department of Public Safety tells the RFT that Jones' Exotic Bar and Grill has been under a cease-and-desist order since November 22, 2022, when numerous neighbors complained about it. Public Safety officials have been monitoring the bar and grill since.
As of Wednesday, Jones was not in custody. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
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