A man awaiting trial for years on a murder charge in New Orleans has been rebooked on suspicion of attempted murder after a jailhouse stabbing, New Orleans police say.
Tyjon Luque, 24, stabbed a man repeatedly in the head and body at the Orleans Justice Center on March 29, according to police. That man went to a hospital and was alive as of Monday, when Luque was rebooked on one count of attempted second-degree murder, police said.
Luque had been married at St. Charles Parish Nelson Coleman Correctional Center while awaiting his murder trial, according to Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Casey McGee.
“He was moved to St. Charles due to the fact that he has so many known enemies and has had so many conflicts with people in our custody,” McGee said.
In March, Luque returned to Orleans Justice Center for a court date and was married in the high-security pod, “2E.” On March 29, he allegedly stabbed a 23-year-old man “multiple times in his head area,” according to court documents. When the victim tried to retreat, Luque allegedly stabbed him in the chest, back and left arm.
The fresh accusation against Luque adds to an open murder case he’s faced for seven years, since his mother handed him over to police at age 17 to face a murder charge.
In July 2017, surveillance video captured Luque as he allegedly gunned down Duvander “Lil Chevy” Haley, 19, on a Jeannette Street porch in the Leonidas neighborhood.
After police circulated Luque’s image, his mother and grandmother turned him in. Innocent or guilty, they said they wanted him jailed to protect him from retaliation.
“I’d rather have him in a place where I can see him and touch him than look over him while I bury him,” Kindalyn Luque told The Times-Picayune in 2017.
Luque was “irate” when his mother and grandmother held him down until police came, according to court records. At the time, he was free on $50,000 bail pending two charges of attempted second-degree murder.
Since his 2017 arrest, Luque has been rebooked on counts of second-degree battery in Nov. 2019 and June 2023, and aggravated battery in August 2023.
Friday’s stabbing is the latest in a series of violent incidents that have roiled the Orleans Justice Center, boiling over last fall, when multiple stabbings, fires and attacks led supervisors to stage a brief walkout.
Then, the jail’s population hovered near its city-imposed cap of 1,250. Between May 2023 and last month, the jail’s average daily population was 1,184, according to OPSO’s annual report. It reached a high of 1,279 last Nov. 26.
Luque’s bond for the attempted second-degree murder count was set at $500,000 on Tuesday.
