NEW ORLEANS — It's the shocking video that has left New Orleanians rattled. A shootout in the 7th Ward was caught on camera, and two women caught in the crossfire were sent to hospital.
This violence comes as the National Medical Association hosts a conference discussing ways to prevent gun violence.
In the video, you see two gunmen jump out of the black Honda SUV and begin firing at the people sitting on the porch. A man on the porch fires back.
It happed around 5:15 Sunday evening, in the 1800 block of Industry Street in the 7th Ward.
A neighbor whose security camera picked up the gunfire told Eyewitness News, "I’m here on the ground, and I cracked my door like so, and I’m looking out like yo, you know, like here... it was very close to the point where I didn’t know which way. I just was alert, aware and low."
A 76- and 36-year-old woman were shot and taken to hospital.
This shootout occurred the day before the National Medical Association's Violence Prevention Council Town Hall, aimed at preventing gun violence. Louisiana currently ranks second in the nation for the highest number of gun deaths among kids.
"Sometimes they get into entanglements and the first thing they grab is a gun, because it's so easily accessible so the first thing we need to talk about is how we eliminate the guns from coming into the community," Dr. Garfield Clunie said about young people,
Dr. Clunie says local leaders need to step up and create programs to keep children occupied, saying, "When you witness violence, you think violence becomes the norm."
Congresswoman Robin Kelly from Illinois and Co-Chair of the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce says Congress needs to take action not tomorrow but yesterday, "We haven't even passed universal background checks, we still haven't even passed some of the loopholes that need to be closed the assault weapon, you can buy an assault weapon at 18," said the Congresswoman.
As for the shootout on Industry Street, NOPD confirms a person at the scene was arrested for being a felon in possession of a firearm, but the others are still on the run.
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