ORLEANS, La. — After a night on Bourbon Street, Andew Keel and his wife, along with some friends, made a stop for food before walking to their hotel in the warehouse district just after midnight on Monday.
“We didn’t hear the shots; all we saw was the aftermath,” said Keel. “At first, we were thinking, ‘Wow, what is happening.’ Then we realized as we were getting closer to our hotel, we started seeing all of the trucks and the cars with all the lights.”
About 15 minutes before they walked up to the 800 block of South Peters Street, a mass shooting happened outside Republic NOLA, a popular music club.
“We saw multiple ladies crying and saying that they had just arrived, and there were shots fired, and there were people laying on the ground,” said Keel.
A dozen people were injured, one of them, Jezreel Poleate, 24, died. Surveillance video from a nearby business shows people ducking and running. A photo from Keel shows a victim on a stretcher.
“It seemed like she might have just been suffering something on her leg,” said Keel.
According to online ticketing websites, an event called Church on Sundaze hosted by an Atlanta rapper was on the schedule Sunday night.
“By the grace of God, me and my friend stopped at the hotel to fix hair,” said one witness who didn’t want to be identified.
That witness is a native of New Orleans who was on her way to the event. She’s thankful she made that stop at the hotel first.
“Right after, when we walked up, we unfortunately seen someone on the ground and a couple other people running around screaming,” said the witness. “It was very chaotic and very traumatic for a lot of people.”
Keel, a DJ from California, says he knows how packed venues can get, both inside and outside and feels for victims who were just wanting to have fun.
“I feel for the victims. I feel for the families,” said Keel. “Last night it really hit me that I'm here for just a moment, but they’ll be dealing with this for the rest of their lives.”
Lives this New Orleanian witness says are impacted too often in the city.
“As a female, who likes to have fun, who likes to enjoy the city, I love my city, it’s hard for us to go out and enjoy anything without having to worry about losing our life,” said the witness who asked not to be identified.
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