LSUPD arrested a Southern University student early Sunday morning after he allegedly fired eight gunshots into the air during a fight outside West Campus Apartments building two.
Maj. Ricky Adams said in an e-mail that LSUPD arrested Joseph Lee Holmes for illegal use of a weapon in a firearm free zone around 1:40 a.m. Adams said officers responded to a call about fighting going on in WCA and saw Holmes raise his arm and fire the handgun eight times in the air after they arrived.
Police said Holmes threw the gun into nearby bushes after they ordered him to drop his weapon. No one was injured from the gun.
Officers booked Holmes in East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.
Michelle Hanson, a marketing freshman who lives in building two, said she heard “an excessive amount of commotion” outside her apartment around 1:30 a.m.
Adams said about 75 people were outside the apartment complex watching three separate fights.
Stefanie Carver, Hanson’s roommate, said they ran to the window to see what was going on and heard the gunshots shortly after.
Carver, an elementary education freshman, said she thinks there was a party going on in an apartment on the second floor of building two before the fight broke out.
Hanson and Carver said it is not unusual for small parties to take place in WCA, but they have never seen any fighting like this.