A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday (Feb. 22) found Arnold Magee guilty of fatally shooting his estranged girlfriend outside his Metairie apartment.
Magee, 37, is guilty as charged of the second-degree murder of Kawana Tibbit, 27, whom he killed in the 4100 block of Hessmer Avenue on the morning of July 2, 2020, following the end of their 5-year relationship.
Tibbit, who previously lived at the apartment, returned there just after 7 a.m., to retrieve belongings. An argument ensued, during which Tibbit received a phone call from new boyfriend. He could hear commotion in the background. Magee grabbed the phone and told him, “You’re not going to f— with her anymore.”
In a state of panic, the boyfriend told Magee he was on his way over. After the call was disconnected, she fled, and her boyfriend ran to the apartment on foot. By the time he arrived, she was dead.
Magee had armed himself with his Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle and went to the apartment building’s parking lot after she fled. He fired two .223-caliber rounds at Tibbit’s car.
The second round struck Tibbit in the upper right arm and traveled into her chest, causing massive tissue damage to her right lung. The trajectory was consistent with Magee shooting Tibbit while her hands were on her car’s steering wheel.
Struggling to breath and bleeding to death, Tibbit drove on but crashed her car into a vehicle parked outside an apartment building across Hessmer Avenue. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies who responded to the 911 calls found her slumped over in the driver’s seat. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Magee was among the 911 callers. In his 7:26 a.m., call, Magee told the operator that Tibbit tried to run him over in her car, and so he fired his rifle in self-defense. He returned his rifle to a closet in his apartment and waited for deputies to arrive.
Detectives recovered surveillance video footage and an audio recording of the shooting that refute Magee’s self-defense assertions.
Video shows that after Tibbet ran out of Magee’s apartment carrying her shoes, he casually walked out carrying the military-style rifle while speaking on his cell phone. He then stood outside the apartment building, holding the rifle.
Shortly after, Magee and Tibbit appeared to be conversing outside the apartment building. She stood beside her car, while he remained at the entrance to an entry gate to his building, holding the rifle. She got into her car and accelerated away. Magee fired the first bullet. It struck a parked van.
Tibbit then put her car into reverse and veered toward Magee before crashing into the building. After Tibbit’s car came to a stop, Magee fired a second time, striking her. She screamed and accelerated away again, eventually crashing into a parked vehicle across Hessmer.
Magee, meanwhile, casually walked through his apartment building, peering out to where Tibbit’s car crashed across the street. He hid the rifle under his clothing, walked across Hessmer and looked into Tibbit’s car.
He walked back to his apartment and, with the rifle still hidden under his clothing, he called 911. He remained at the scene and voluntarily spoke with detectives.
A deputy recovered the rifle from Magee’s apartment. Its safety selector switch was still in the fire position, and there was a round in the chamber, meaning it was ready to be fired. A full, 30-round magazine was inserted in the rifle.
In addition to maintaining Magee’s self-defense assertions, his attorneys argued that he suffered from alcohol addiction withdrawals and, explaining the rifle, also was fearful of Tibbit’s new boyfriend. The attorneys also suggested that jurors consider returning with a verdict of manslaughter, a lesser degree of homicide committed in the heat of passion that carries a sentence of up to 40 years in prison.
The jury that was seated on Monday deliberated about 1 ½ hours on Thursday before returning with its verdict.
Judge Donnie Rowan of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Magee on March 8.
Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Africk and Taylor Somerville prosecuted the case.