A festive weekend that brought tens of thousands into New Orleans to watch the annual Bayou Classic football game and related events was marred by two separate shootings in the French Quarter that left one teenager dead and five young people wounded.
The first incident occurred on the edge of the French Quarter in the 700 block of Canal Street just before 9 p.m., a few hours after Southern University beat Grambling State University 34-17 during the 49th Bayou Classic at the Caesars Superdome.
Young man shot
The New Orleans Police Department said a male teenager walked up to an 18-year-old man at the Bourbon Street corner of Canal Street and opened fire, hitting him multiple times.
The victim was hit in the side of his torso and was transported to the trauma unit at University Medical Center where he later died of his injuries, according to the New Orleans Emergency Medical Services.
The NOPD arrested a 15-year-old and booked him on counts of second degree murder, illegal carrying of weapons and illegal possession of a handgun by a juvenile.
Police said the victim was from Baton Rouge and the alleged shooter was from nearby Plaquemine, located in Iberville Parish.
A sudden “stampede”
The owner of a souvenir store just feet from where the shooting occurred said Canal Street was thronged just after 8 p.m. The business owner, who asked that neither he nor his shop be named, said he saw a “stampede” of people suddenly running down Canal from the Bourbon Street corner toward Royal Street, though he hadn’t heard nor seen anything himself.
He shut the shop immediately. There was still yellow police tape in front of the permanently-shuttered True Religion clothing shop on Sunday morning when he opened up again.
Just a block away on Bourbon Street, five people were wounded when one or more gunmen opened fire just before 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, according to police.
A manager at Mango Mango Daiquiris on the corner of Bourbon and Iberville Streets who would only give his first name, Jeremy, said the store’s video surveillance showed a packed street at the time of the shooting. The crowd suddenly runs toward Iberville from the Bienville Street direction, though the actual shooting wasn’t captured on video, he said.
The block has several daiquiris outlets, as well as Galatoire’s, Felix’s, and Olde Nola Cookery restaurants. Also, the Hustler Club.
Early morning shots
The call for the Bourbon Street shooting came in at 1:49 a.m., police said.
There were five victims, three male and two female. The Emergency Medical Services spokesperson said all five wounded had arrived at University Medical Center’s trauma unit by 2:22 a.m.
None of the injured has been identified. A 17-year-old male was shot in the foot; an 18-year-old male was wounded in the chest and back; a 20-year-old male was shot in the hip. The two female victims, aged 20 and 24, were both shot in the thigh.
Two people were in custody “for questioning to determine whether they are involved in the incident,” police said in a news release. Weapons were taken from both of them.
There had been no arrest for the Bourbon Street shooting by late Sunday.