(Reuters) – Nineteen people including two young children were shot today when gunfire erupted at a Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans, police said.
Shots rang out at 1:45 p.m. local time as the second line of the parade passed the 1400 block of Frenchmen Street in the city, New Orleans Police Department spokesman Garry Flot said.
Ten men and seven woman were shot along with a 10-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy. The children were grazed and are in good condition, Flot said in a statement.
“Many of the victims were grazed some by bullets that ricocheted,” he said.
Two victims are undergoing surgery, according to Flot.
New Orleans police superintendent Ronal Serpas told reporters at least one other person was injured as spectators fled the scene.
Emergency medical responders took 11 people to Interim LSU Public Hospital in New Orleans, according to hospital spokesman Marvin McGraw. He said he could not discuss their conditions because he did not have their consent.
Officers saw three suspects running away, one described as dark-skinned male aged 18 to 22 with short hair, Serpas said. No arrests were made.
Photographs of the shooting aftermath in the Times-Picayune newspaper showed a man lying on his stomach beside a pool of blood, being helped by two bystanders.
Other photos showed a man in shorts sitting on a cobbled street, his calf bleeding and covered with a bandana.
The incident is not the first shooting involving multiple casualties in New Orleans this year.
In February four people were wounded in a shooting outside a nightclub in the city’s French Quarter as crowds gathered for Mardi Gras celebrations.
