New Orleans Shooting Update: Injured Toll Rises to 9 in Bourbon Street Shooting, Mayor 'Confident' About Finding Shooter
The number of victims injured in an early morning shooting in New Orleans' French Quarter has risen from seven to nine, according to police.
At approximately 2:45 a.m. Sunday, reports came in that a shooter had opened fire on people in the 700 block of Bourbon Street. Surveillance video from a nearby bar obtained later showed people, presumably victims, lying on the ground as others ran from the scene.
Initially, only seven people were sent to the hospital, but New Orleans Police Department spokesman Frank Robertson said later Sunday morning that more injured were later reported. According to Robertson, seven of the injured people were in stable condition. One unidentified woman was listed in critical condition. The ninth victim's condition wasn't known.
No official information on a description of the suspect is available.
A witness told WWL-TV the shooter seemed to shoot one victim intentionally, then began randomly opening fire into the crowd.
"[He] just turned around, and he started shooting at the crowd," the witness said. "He seemed pissed off at some dude, pulled the gun out and started shooting at the guy, then turned around on the crowd and started shooting at us."
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said in a statement that the No. 1 priority is to keep New Orleans safe.
"These kinds of incidents will not go unanswered," Landrieu said. "[New Orleans Police Department] was in the immediate vicinity at the time of the incident, and I am confident that between video evidence and eyewitness accounts, we will bring the perpetrators to justice. Our crime-fighting efforts have brought murders in the city of New Orleans to a historic nearly 30-year low, but on days like today, the statistics don't matter because every life is precious -- from the 9th Ward to the French Quarter. We will not rest until every corner of this city is safe."
This is the third Bourbon Street shooting in three years. In February 2013, a shooting in the 400 block sent four people to the hospital, and during Halloween 2011, gunmen in that block opened fire on each other, killing two people and injuring 15 others.