New Orleans police are searching for three suspects Sunday after at least 19 people were shot during a Mother’s Day parade.
Police spokeswoman Remi Braden said in an email that many of the victims were grazed and most of the wounds weren’t life-threatening. No deaths were reported.
The FBI said that the shooting appeared to be “street violence” and wasn’t linked to terrorism.
The victims included 10 men, seven women, a boy and a girl. The children, both 10 years old, were grazed and in good condition. Police said at least two people were in surgery Sunday night.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu urged witnesses to come forward with information during a news conference Sunday night at a hospital where gunshot victims were taken.
“These kinds of incidents will not go unanswered. Somebody knows something. The way to stop this violence is for you all to help,” he said.
Mary Beth Romig, a spokeswoman for the FBI in New Orleans, said federal investigators have no indication that the shooting was an act of terrorism.
“It’s strictly an act of street violence in New Orleans,” she said.
Chief Serpas announced in a press conference earlier on Sunday that the youngest victim is believed to be a 10-year-old girl. Police say she suffered a graze wound, WVUE Fox 8 reported.
Officers were interspersed with the marchers, which is routine for such events. As many as 400 people joined in the procession that stretched for about 3 blocks, though only half that many were in the immediate vicinity of the shooting, Serpas said.
Serpas said that the procession had been accompanied by officers, who saw two or three suspects run from the scene in the city’s 7th Ward.
Outside the hospital on Sunday night, Leonard Temple teared up as he talked about a friend of his who was in surgery after being shot three times during the parade. Temple was told the man was hit while trying to push his own daughter out of the way.
“People were just hanging out. We were just chilling. And this happened. Bad things always happen to good people,” said Temple, who was at the parade but didn’t see the shootings.
In the late afternoon, the scene was taped off and police had placed bullet casing markers in at least 10 spots.
Nobody had been arrested as of Sunday night.
Eleven patients have been admitted to Interim LSU Public Hospital with no life threatening injuries, hospital spokesperson Marvin McGraw said.
Second-line parades are loose processions in which people dance down the street, often following behind a brass band. They can be impromptu or planned and are sometimes described as moving block parties.
A social club called The Original Big 7 organized Sunday’s event. The group was founded in 1996 at the Saint Bernard housing projects, according to its MySpace page.
The neighborhood where the shooting happened was a mix of low-income and middle-class row houses, some boarded up. As of last year, the neighborhood’s population was about 60 percent of its pre-Hurricane Katrina level.
Police vowed to make swift arrests.
“We’ll get them. We have good resources in this neighborhood,” Serpas said.
Click for more from WVUE Fox 8.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Via: Fox News
