NEW ORLEANS — Gunshots erupted after the Morris Jeff High School graduation ceremony on the Xavier University campus Tuesday afternoon, leaving one woman dead and two male victims wounded.
Witnesses say the woman shot and killed Tuesday, was the grandmother of a graduate.
We spoke with some who saw the terrifying scene unfold. They say their day of celebration turned to one of mourning.
"One of my friend's grandmother got shot in the middle of the street and she had nothing to do with it," graduate Joseph Nabor said.
Students who saw the chaos say it began with a fight.
"Once we started running over there the fight got worse and someone started shooting like fa, fa, fa, fa, fa," Nabor said.
"I just remember hearing the shots and trying to get down and get away from whatever was going on," said another graduate.
That graduate, spoke with us as long as we didn't show their face. The graduate says after seeking cover, fear turned to heartache.
"We were over there by the white car and I was trying to figure out where my brother was and I look over where the crime scene was and I saw my friend breaking down. And then I saw her body laying there on the floor and I didn't know if she was hurt, and I saw the blood in the back of her head," they said. "[My friend] was crying and I told him to look away, put his head on my shoulder, I didn't want him to break down even more. He didn't say much. He was crying, he said, 'Oh no grandma,' I said it was going to be okay."
"She was innocent and this is not cool," Nabor said.
Nabor says he knows the woman's grandson. That he keeps replaying the terrifying scene over and over again.
"It was a lot you know," he said. "Especially when you have important family members and stuff like that. It's a lot to take in. At any moment any one of them could've gotten shot, it could've been my grandma who got shot."
As police search for answers, those attending the graduation are doing the same. They say they're heartbroken it ended this way.
"I don't want to remember it for being the day that we experienced this traumatic experience," said the graduate. "So I'm trying to remember it as throwing caps in the air and everybody crying tears of joy and not tears of sadness. I'm trying to keep that image in my head as long as possible."
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