19 Wounded In Shooting At Mother's Day Parade In New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Nineteen people were shot Sunday as a crowd celebrated in the streets at a Mother's Day parade in New Orleans.
The FBI said that the shootings appeared to be "street violence" and weren't linked to terrorism.
CBS affiliate WWL-TV reported Sunday afternoon that the shooting happened at a Mother's Day second-line parade in the 7th Ward in New Orleans.
Many of the victims were grazed and most of the wounds weren't life-threatening, police spokeswoman Remi Braden said in an e-mail. No deaths were reported.
The injured in the shooting around 3 p.m. Eastern Time included 10 men, seven women, a 10-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl, police told WWL-TV.
New Orleans Police Supt. Ronal Serpas said three or four people were in surgery Sunday evening, but he didn't have their conditions. Police told WWL-TV that most of the injuries were not life threatening.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu urged witnesses to come forward with information during a news conference Sunday night at a hospital where gunshot victims were taken.
"These kinds of incidents will not go unanswered. Somebody knows something. The way to stop this violence is for you all to help," he said.
Mary Beth Romig, a spokeswoman for the FBI in New Orleans, said federal investigators have no indication that the shooting was an act of terrorism.
"It's strictly an act of street violence in New Orleans," she said.
Earlier reports had estimated the number of victims at 12, but has since been raised.
There were 200 people at the corner of Villere and Frenchmen streets where the shots rang out, and 300 to 400 people at the second line in total, WWL-TV reported.
"I think what frustrates all of us is the selfishness of some people, and I think what frustrates all of us is that the great culture of this city sometimes stumbles a bit because of the selfish behavior of some people," New Orleans police Supt. Ronal Serpas said in the WWL-TV report.
Second-line parades are loose processions in which people dance down the street, often following behind a brass band. They can be impromptu or planned and are sometimes described as moving block parties.
A social club called The Original Big 7 organized Sunday's event. The group was founded in 1996 at the Saint Bernard housing projects, according to its MySpace page.
The neighborhood where the shooting happened was a mix of low-income and middle-class row houses, some boarded up. As of last year, the neighborhood's population was about 60 percent of its pre-Hurricane Katrina level.
Police vowed to make swift arrests.
"We'll get them. We have good resources in this neighborhood," Serpas said.
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories
(TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
