Shootings near parade route in New Orleans leave 2 dead and 10 injured

Two people were killed and 10 others were wounded in two separate shootings along a parade and celebration route in New Orleans attended by thousands on Sunday, authorities said. So far there have been no arrests.

Police responding to reports of shots fired shortly after 3:30 p.m. on an avenue in the city’s St. Roch neighborhood found eight victims with gunshot wounds, according to a news release from the New Orleans Police Department.

The eight injured were taken to hospitals in unknown condition. Police later said a ninth injured person arrived at a hospital in a private car.

About 45 minutes later, police received another report of shots fired as revelers crossed the Almonaster Avenue bridge, just over 0.8 kilometers to the north. One person died at the scene and another at a hospital, police said. A third victim was taken to a hospital in a private vehicle and is in stable condition, police said.

No arrests were announced and no suspect information was provided. The St. Roch neighborhood is outside the city’s French Quarter, which is popular with tourists, located several blocks northeast of the neighborhood.

The Almonaster Bridge was closed in both directions during the investigation.

Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said detectives did not know if the incidents were related.

“It was… different types of approaches,” he said of the shootings, which occurred in the area where a “second line,” a celebration that follows a parade, was taking place.

Thousands had gathered for the annual Nine Times Social Aid & Pleasure Club outing in the 9th Ward, organizer Oscar Brown told the website NOLA.com.

“It’s a wonderful event, and we want to keep it wonderful,” Kirkpatrick said.

It was the second major shooting in the South since gunfire marred homecoming weekend celebrations at Tuskegee University in Alabama on Nov. 10, leaving one person dead and 16 injured, a dozen of them from gunfire. authorities said.

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