NEW ORLEANS — Five people are dead following four separate shootings in the span of five hours across New Orleans on Thursday night.
According to the New Orleans Police Department, the first shooting happened just before 7 p.m. in the Lower Garden District. Officers responding to the scene in the 1800 block of Rousseau Street found an unresponsive 17-year-old who had been shot several times. He was later pronounced dead at the scene.
About an hour later police responded to the second shooting in the Lower Ninth Ward. Officers found a man and a teenager with gunshot wounds in a parking lot near North Claiborne Avenue and Tupelo Street. Both victims died from their wounds.
The NOPD confirmed a third deadly shooting just before 10 p.m. in the 7000 block of Lawrence Road in New Orleans East. Police say a teenage male who was found shot in that area was pronounced dead at the scene.
And around 10:36 p.m., police responded to a fatal shooting near Louisa and North Robertson streets that left one person dead and two others wounded. Officers responding to calls of shots fired found two crashed vehicles with two gunshot victims in one car. One driver, a man, was taken to the hospital for treatment. His passenger, a woman, was declared dead at the scene. The driver of the second car, a woman, was taken to the hospital for injuries she received in the crash. The police department said it is investigating the possibility of other people being involved in that shooting.
NOPD Superintendent Michelle Woodfork issued a statement on Friday addressing the violent night.
“Last night, within a five-hour span, there were four shootings in our city, leaving five dead and families that are a part of our community grieving. Two of the victims were juveniles. These senseless acts of violence are disheartening and will not be tolerated, Woodfork said. "They threaten our public safety and affect everyone in our community, including our officers responding to and investigating these crimes. NOPD Homicide detectives are working aggressively to identify the persons responsible for these offenses and to establish motives.
“We are asking the community to join us in this effort by providing any information that can assist in the quick apprehension of the individuals responsible.”
Anyone with information about any of these shootings is asked to call the New Orleans Police Department at 504-658-5300 or Crimestoppers of Greater New Orleans at 504-822-1111.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.