French Quarter mass shooting is New Orleans' 2nd in 5 days
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One suspect is in custody after what New Orleans Police Department chief Anne Kirkpatrick described as a "brazen" mass shooting occurred in "broad daylight" in the French Quarter on Thursday.
- Four people were shot, including a 27-year-old woman who died, NOPD said. The other three included a 39-year-old woman and two men ages 40 and 24.
The big picture: It was New Orleans' second mass shooting in five days after a second-line ended in two shootings Sunday. Those shootings left two people dead and another 11 injured.
The latest: Kirkpatrick described Thursday's shooting as "a targeted crime" in which a car with at least three people pulled up outside Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse on Iberville Street and began shooting what appeared to be handguns at "a particular person who was in a group."
Between the lines: The FBI defines a mass shooting as a shooting in which four or more people are shot.
Zoom in: High-quality video footage of the shooting helped police narrow in on the car, Kirkpatrick said.
- "This does not look random," she said. "We can see that just by seeing the video."
- Police found and confiscated the car and arrested a person "from that vehicle," Kirkpatrick said.
- A witness told The Times-Picayune that they heard between 30 and 40 shots fired.
Despite the recent acts of violence, Kirkpatrick said she didn't "want anyone to have fear."
- So far this month, Kirkpatrick said, the city has seen nine homicides, including the French Quarter killing Thursday.
- Throughout all of November 2023, she said, New Orleans had 20 homicides.
- "Holiday seasons are actually seasons when we see an uptick in violence," she said.
Go deeper: Second-line shooting was tragic exception in New Orleans' violent crime drop, officials say
Editor's note: This breaking story has been updated. NOPD initially said the deceased victim was a man, but later reported that person to be a 27-year-old woman.