New Orleans shooting: 3 dead, 7 hurt, 2 gunmen on loose, officials ‘disgusted, infuriated’

Three people were killed and seven others were wounded in a shooting Saturday night on a troubled block of South Claiborne Avenue, the New Orleans Police Department said.

NOPD Chief Michael Harrison said two people wearing hooded sweatshirts approached a large crowd outside a commercial strip mall in the 3400 block of South Claiborne about 8:30 p.m. and started spraying gunfire toward people there.

One of the shooters wielded a long gun and the other had a pistol, killing two men and one woman at the scene, Harrison said. The shooters took time to stand over one victim in particular before fleeing northbound toward Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Of the wounded, one was in critical condition and undergoing surgery on Saturday night, Harrison said. The other six don’t appear to have life-threatening injuries.

None of the victims’ names were released, and no suspects have been publicly identified.

Harrison pleaded with members of the public to provide investigators with any tips that may lead them to the shooters. He urged anyone affected by Saturday night’s carnage to not “take matters into their own hands,” saying his officers would work relentlessly to catch those responsible.

“If violence is going to be the life you choose, then prison is going to be the price you pay,” said Harrison, noting there were multiple crime cameras in the area of the bloodshed.

Louisiana State Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Housing Authority of New Orleans were among the agencies assisting NOPD at the scene.

Read the full story from The New Orleans Advocate here.