Man accused of shooting into crowded bar after fight broke out in parking lot

BATON ROUGE – A man was arrested for attempted murder after he allegedly shot into a sports bar after a fight broke out in the parking lot early Sunday morning.

The East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office said it responded to the gunfire around 2 a.m. Sunday at Tiger Paw Grill & Daiquiris on Coursey Boulevard, less than a mile away from Jones Creek Road.

At the scene, deputies found approximately 20 shell casings littering the ground in front of the bar and detained 29-year-old Jacob Covington, who reportedly admitted to firing a gun in the area.

Surveillance video obtained by detectives showed a large argument that escalated into a fight outside the bar. Covington was seen trying to break up the fight moments before the gunfire erupted and sent everyone running for cover, according to arrest documents. 

Witnesses told deputies that around 15–30 people were inside the bar when the shooting started, and they all fell to the ground for cover.

Several minutes after the gunfire stopped and people had cleared out of the parking lot, detectives said another single shot was heard on the video. That bullet went through the front window of the bar and was later found lodged in the back wall.

Covington — who claimed he pulled a woman out of her car and took cover with her when the gunfire first started — admitted to firing a shot after things died down, but he gave conflicting stories about what happened.

At first, Covington said he slipped on grass and accidentally fired a shot. Then he changed his story to say he purposefully fired a shot to “let the woman know everything was safe,” deputies wrote.

When detectives questioned the woman, she admitted to her involvement in the fight and said that Covington did pull her to cover. However, she said that Covington pulled out his gun and fired a shot toward the building after the shooting had already stopped. 

A shell casing found in an adjacent parking lot matched the weapon Covington had on him when he was detained. 

Covington was booked Sunday morning into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison for attempted first-degree murder.