Two separate shootings near a New Orleans parade celebration Sunday left two people dead and 10 others wounded, casting a shadow over an annual community event that drew thousands of attendees.
The first incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. in the St. Roch neighborhood, where officers found eight people with gunshot wounds, according to New Orleans Police Department. All victims were transported to hospitals, with a ninth wounded person later arriving via private vehicle. Their conditions remain unknown.
Approximately 45 minutes later and less than a mile north, gunfire erupted as celebrants crossed the Almonaster Avenue Bridge. One victim died at the scene and another at the hospital, while a third victim, transported privately to a hospital, remains in stable condition.
The violence disrupted the annual gathering of the Nine Times Social Aid & Pleasure Club in the 9th Ward. “It is a wonderful event, and we want to keep it a wonderful event,” Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said, noting investigators haven’t determined if the shootings were related. “They were … different kinds of approaches.”
The incidents occurred during a “second line,” a traditional celebration following the main parade, in an area outside the tourist-heavy French Quarter. No arrests have been made and police have not released suspect information.
This marks the second major shooting in the South since the November 10 Tuskegee University incident in Alabama, where one person died and 16 were injured, including 12 by gunfire.
