Police: 4 injured in shooting on Bourbon Street

NEW ORLEANS — Gunfire wounded four people on New Orleans' famous Bourbon Street as a costumed crowd celebrated in the middle of the countdown to Mardi Gras, sending people running, police said. police and passers-by.

Four shots rang out quickly Saturday evening, followed by screams, a video taken by a passerby and released by police showed. Authorities said an argument involving some members of the crowd led to the shooting. No arrests were immediately reported and police said they were searching for three men who fled.

The injured included a man on surveillance who was shot in the abdomen, thigh and pelvis, as well as another man and two women, New Orleans police spokesman Frank B.Robertson. According to his statement, the other victims were also hit by gunfire: a man in the buttocks, a woman in the chin and right foot and another woman in the toe.

Police said Saturday evening that the most seriously injured man was in critical condition and undergoing surgery while the others were stable. None were identified by age or name.

The shooting took place on the last holiday weekend before Mardi Gras, the Fat Tuesday celebration that is New Orleans' signature tourist event of the year.

New Orleans has been plagued for years by violent crime, including gun violence, which has exploded since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005.

Bystander footage showed many people in disguise on the street before the shooting, with a number of them apparently unaware of what was happening.

Police said two men initially argued with the male victim who suffered multiple gunshot wounds. According to police, the two suspects briefly left after an initial argument, then one of them returned with a third man and the shooting broke out before they fled.

Authorities described the three men as “perpetrators” and said one appeared to be between 18 and 22 years old, another between 20 and 25, and the third as a heavyset, bearded man.

Patrick Clay, 21, a student at Louisiana State University, told the Times-Picayune that he was standing on the corner of Bourbon Street when he suddenly saw a crowd running and people shouting that there was had a shooting.

“Everyone immediately started running and the cops immediately started running towards where people were running from,” Clay said. “I was with a group of about seven people and at that point we all just shook hands and made our way through the crowd as soon as possible.”

Some bartenders and partygoers said the block of Bourbon Street where the shooting took place was closed to crowds for a time while detectives investigated. But the party resumed in force a few hours later on this stretch of Bourbon Street.

Julia Rosenthal, a 19-year-old visitor from Westchester, New York, had mixed feelings about spending time in the French Quarter after the shooting. “It's not a good thing that happened, and it's really scary. But I'm not going to let this affect my night,” she told AP.

Peter Manabani, an employee at Rat's Hole bar, said police closed an entire block of Bourbon Street for an hour to investigate, but allowed people back into the area later.

Hours later Sunday, there was little evidence a shooting had occurred. The night's revelers were in full party mode, filling the neighborhood amid a heavy police presence.

Laura Gonzalez, 21, of Baytown, Texas, said it was her first Mardi Gras and she spent time at the nearby Fat Catz bar while police investigated. She said the bar quickly closed its doors after the shots rang out and did not let anyone in or out while police attended the scene.

When asked if it was scary, she said, “Not really. We were just holed up in a bar and we weren't going to let this incident ruin our party.”

Parades took place all day Saturday but none on Bourbon Street because the streets are too narrow. One of the largest Mardi Gras parades, the Krewe of Endymion, traveled down a major thoroughfare and just bypassed Bourbon Street hours before the shooting. Typically, once the parades are over, revelers head to the French Quarter.