19 Shot At New Orleans Mother's Day Parade

According to published reports, 19 people were shot yesterday at a New Orleans Mother’s Day parade. Police are searching for three suspects.

New Orleans police spokesman Garry Flot said ten men, seven women and a boy and girl who were both aged 10, were shot at about 1:45 p.m. yesterday as a Mother’s Day parade marched along North Villere Street. Two of the victims are in surgery. The spokesmen said that the children were grazed by bullets and are in good condition. The police are unsure whether the victims were bystanders watching the parade or if they were marching.

Ronald Serpas, the New Orleans Police superintendent, said no arrests were made but officers on the scene saw three suspects running away. One of the suspects looked to be between the age of 18 and 22. Witnesses reported that they heard two different types of gunshot, which indicates that two different weapons were involved in the shooting. Serpas said, "It appears that these two or three people, for reasons unknown to us, started shooting at, towards or in the crowd." The superintendent said that the incident was over in "just a couple of seconds."

Three of the victims are being treated at University Hospital for serious injuries. Hospital spokesman Marvin McGraw said emergency medical responders to Interim LSU public Hospital in New Orleans.

Photographs that appeared in Times-Picayune newspaper that were taken in the aftermath of the shooting showed two bystanders helping a man who lying on his stomach in a pool of blood. Another photograph showed a man in shorts sitting on a cobbled street. His calf was bleeding and covered with a bandana.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said the shooting was part of "the relentless drum beat of violence" that is happening on the streets of New Orleans. Landrieu told a news conference outside University Hospital, "It's a culture of violence that has enveloped the city for a long, long period of time."

FBI surveys show that violent crime in New Orleans ranks above the national average. A 2010 poll found crime was the greatest concern of city residents. Four people were wounded in February in a shooting outside a nightclub in the French Quarter during Mardi Gras celebrations.