BREAKING NEWS: 6 people have shot along a Mardi Gras parade route

[originalpckelly]

This is breaking on the top of MSNBC.com:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29371878/

[uppityperson]

1. nola.com link...

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/two_people_shot_on_st_charles.html
Several people, perhaps as many as five, were injured this afternoon after a shooting spree broke out along the St. Charles Avenue parade route near Second Street, according to NOPD spokesman Janssen Valencia. One of the victims may have been a child that suffered a graze wound, he said. Another was a cotton candy vendor, according to witnesses.

All appeared to be innocent bystanders in the area for the day's Carnival parades, said Deputy Chief Kirk Bouyelas.

The violence broke out about 1:40 p.m. on the lake side of St. Charles somewhere between the neutral ground and sidewalk. Truck parades continued to roll down the street as several dozen police officers this afternoon worked the active crime scene just steps away....

[KamaAina]

5. NOPD "Not Our Problem, Dude" at least used to be able to do crowd control

In my day (around 1990), the worst I ever saw was some officers harassing a young African American man (quelle surprise!) for going after throws a bit too aggressively.

Shootings at Second Line parades, generally held in African American neighborhoods, have become enough of a problem that "Not Our Problem, Dude" tried to double or triple the permit fee. But on St. Charles at Carnival? :scared: By comparison, imagine this happening on Broadway during the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. The location given is directly opposite the Garden District and is mere blocks from Anne Rice's old haunts.

:cry:

[SoxFan]

16. There were problems in the mid 1990s

The St. Thomas Projects weren't far from the St. Charles Ave route, and some of the locals would cause trouble during parades. The projects were shut down several years ago.

[uppityperson]

20. Shut down in 2005?

or pre-Katrina?

[SoxFan]

25. Pre-Katrina

The city decided to convert ssome of the housing projects (St. Thomas and the Fisher Projects in Algiers among them) to townhouse-style units that resembled normal homes and not massive concrete storage units. That's why a lot of the bluster about the post-Katrina closure of the projects was actually nonsense. The process of transformng these crime-ridden dumps had already begun.

And yes, they were crime-ridden dumps. When I lived in NOLA in the 1990s, the Desire Project had more murders than the entire states of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont combined.

[uppityperson]

29. Were they going to remain low income housing, even is townhouse style units?

Or were they going to sell/rent them for larger amounts of money? Not snarking but seeking info here. Thanks.

If they were going to remain lower income housing, but better places, then I can see people being upset. Or, if they were able to be fixed up and reopened for people who got flooded out of their homes, I can also see the upset.

[SoxFan]

30. They were going to remain low-income housing.

[uppityperson]

32. Thank you. Appreciate the info. eom

[tekisui]

2. AP says one infant, four others shot,

but no injuries believed to be life threatening.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090224/ap_on_re_us/mardi_gras_shooting

[sakabatou]

3. Holy crap

My sympathy to the families and individuals of those shot.

[lpbk2713]

4. Looks like Gov Jindal could use some extra money ...

... in order to keep the streets safe for his citizens.


:eyes:

[RB TexLa]

13. As a citizen of Louisiana, that's not something we expect.

[michreject]

27. Wouldn't that be the mayor's responsibility

as well?

[pacalo]

6. Considering the huge crowds at Mardi Gras parades year after year,

there has been relatively low incidents such as this. I've always gone to the French Quarter where there was a sea of drunken, friendly (ha!) people -- feeling like a sardine in a can, trying to inch my way through -- & had the time of my life.

Sorry to hear about this incident. Thank goodness, there weren't any serious injuries.

[Mari333]

7. pretty crowded there

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/louisiana/neworleans/bourbonstreet/

[FrenchieCat]

8. Strange. That never happened at an Obama rally! Even with thousands out in the streets!

Not even one arrest at the inauguration even, and there were a couple of millions out there.

[Ocracoker16]

9. My thoughts and prayers to all involved

[LiberalEsto]

10. WHEW!!! My daughter's okay

I just called her to make sure she and her boyfriend weren't there when it happened. They weren't.
They are flying home tonight. One of their friends was in the Zulu parade this morning.

Let's hope the people who were injured recover quickly.

[KamaAina]

11. "Damn, this is more dangerous than Afghanistan"

From the T-P article linked in the OP:

Dr. Jim Parry, 41, a surgeon was with his two children on ladders catching beads from passing truck floats when he heard the shots. He turned around, saw a man lying in the middle of the street and ran to provide assistance. The man had been shot in the abdomen. "He kept asking me, 'Was I shot? Was I shot?'"

Paramedics arrived and took over for the Air Force reservist.

"I'm off to Afghanistan this summer. Damn, this is more dangerous than Afghanistan," Parry said.

:scared:

Fair warning: The comments section below the article is not recommended for general audiences. The T-P comments section is as full of racist slimeballs as a yard sale at David Dukkke's house. :eyes:

:scared:

[SoxFan]

18. I avoid the comments section at most newspaper sites

All too often it's a bunch of cranks and crackpots spouting absolute nonsense.

[lib2DaBone]

12. If Gov Jindahl was up Off his Lazy ass and doing his job.....

.. this would not have happened.

Republicans need to stop campaigning for 2012 and start doing the jobs they were hired to do....

[RB TexLa]

14. Murder in Louisiana? It's part of our culture, it's what we do.

[MountainLaurel]

15. That's the second one this season

Last weekend there was an execution-style shooting during one of the parades, in the same vicinity along St. Charles.

[flvegan]

17. If they handed out guns instead of beads, this wouldn't happen.

The more guns that the drunken bystanders would have, the better.

Cotton candy vendors get sniper rifles.

[Bluebear]

19. ---

:spray:

[MountainLaurel]

33. What should the 2-year-old have been packing?

:shrug: :hi:

[ibegurpard]

21. Someone call the Sherriff from Jindal's story

[last_texas_dem]

24. He would have made sure it was the good citizens of Louisiana shooting each other,

and not some government bureaucrat stepping in, trying to get a piece of the action...

[RB TexLa]

31. Harry Lee was Sheriff of Jefferson Parish, this was in Orleans Parish

[specimenfred1984]

22. Arm the babies!

That's right, I'll make fun of A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G.

[KharmaTrain]

23. St. Charles Street? Whoa...

As someone else noted, I've heard of neighborhood parades that got a bit "rowdy"...but not along the main drag.

I'm curious from someone in NOLA...how many parades are happening this year. Anything in the lower 9th? I was way down yonder a year ago...a great city and sorry to see such a good time turn ugly.

[SoxFan]

26. There have never been many parades in the 9th Ward

Maybe some small, neighborhood truck parades or walking clubs, but nothing big, even pre-katrina. There were some in neighboring Arabi and Chalmette (the blue collar white counterpart to the Lower 9), but I don't know if they've come back yet.

The main parade routes have long been along St. Charles Ave., a route that runs down through Mid-City, and the East Jefferson route along Veterans Blvd. in Metairie. There are a few other oddball routes (Krewe of Alla's Algiers-Terrytown route), but the biggies stick to St. Charles, Mid-City or veterans.

[MiniMe]

28. For a minute, I thought that's nothing new at Mardi Gras

lots of people have shots, and many of them. Then I finally opened the thread and realized that they were shot. I'll take heat for saying this, but guns and alcohol don't mix well.