2 killed, 10 injured in shootings near New Orleans parade route: NPR

New Orleans police walk up the Almonaster Avenue bridge after a deadly shooting in New Orleans, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024.

David Grunfeld/AP/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate

hide caption

change caption

David Grunfeld/AP/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate

NEW ORLEANS – Two people were killed and 10 others were wounded in two separate shootings along a New Orleans parade route and celebration attended by thousands on Sunday, authorities said. There were no immediate arrests.

Officers who responded 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. All eight were taken to hospitals in unknown condition. Police later said a ninth injured person arrived at a hospital via a private car.

About 45 minutes later, police received another report of gunfire as revelers crossed the Almonaster Avenue Bridge, just over half a mile (0.8 km) to the north. One person died at the scene and another died 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 made and no suspect information was released. St. The 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 Inspector Anne Kirkpatrick said detectives did not immediately know if the incidents were related.

“They were … different kinds of approaches,” she said of the shootings that took place in the area where a “second line,” a post-parade celebration, was taking place.

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

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

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