6 October 2025
Police say the shooter accused of shooting and killing the sous chef of New Orleans restaurant Brennan’s died on Sunday from a gunshot wound.
Chef Carl Morgan, 36, died on October 2 in a carjacking shooting when he was on his way to pick up his two-year-old son at daycare.
“Carl Morgan … brought an energy to our kitchen that won’t be replaced,” restaurant group owner Ralph Brennan said in a statement issued Thursday afternoon. “This is a tremendous loss for his family, for our team and for everyone who knew him.”
According to Fox10News, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Nicholas Gernon said the accused shooter, 21-year-old Raymond Wells, was found later that night, shot inside the stolen vehicle on Interstate 10. He died from his injuries at University City Medical Center on October 5. According to Fox10, “authorities said it wasn’t immediately known if someone had shot him or if his gunshot wound was self-inflicted.”
Until last week’s rash of nine gunshot murders, the city’s murder rate was at an historic low, even accounting for the 14 people killed during the January 1st terror attack. Besides Morgan, the victims included a Chicago woman shot while celebrating her birthday on Bourbon Street and a Bayou St John artist, who was gunned down when he answered his door. Metropolitan Crime Commission data show a rise in monthly homicide figures since the start of July.
The trend follows a national pattern of gun violence and mass shootings over the summer. Incidents include a shooting at a Catholic School in Minneapolis; a bar in Brooklyn, New York; an office building in Midtown Manhattan; and outside a restaurant in Chicago.
While the Brennan’s restaurant family mourned chef Morgan’s death, they also honored the chef at the National Fried Chicken Festival, held at the lakefront on October 4 and 5. Morgan had been perfecting his fried chicken sandwich, first for family meal, then with the idea of competing at the festival. Some of the proceeds from the festival and the sandwich sales will go to help the family he left behind.
Morgan brought “heat, hustle and heart” to his cooking and his team members, according to a GoFundMe raising money for funeral expenses and family support. Nearly $50,000 has been donated so far.
As of October 3, the governor-requested deployment of up to 1,000 National Guard troops to New Orleans and other Louisiana cities is still pending federal approval and funding.