NEW ORLEANS — A nearby shooting puts a damper on Cam Jordan’s charitable event for kids.
It happened around 6 p.m. on Monday, not far from the shoe boutique Sneaker Politics on Chartres Street.
That’s where Saints Defensive End Cameron Jordan was holding his annual “God Iz Love” sneaker giveback.
Jordan later posted about the shooting on X (formerly Twitter), “reinforcing positivity and having a great time… ignorance and stupidity struck when some argument outside of Politics elevated to extremes and gunshots went off.”
The Saints star was presenting more than 30 Youth Empowerment Project young people with new shoes when gunshots interrupted the event.
Bullets pierced the front windows of the milkshake bar next door.
No one in either business was injured in the shooting.
In another post, Jordan said, “Thankful none of my ppl were affected. But rattled for sure still sad these kids were in this situation.”
John Perkins, a visitor from Florida said police closed Chartres Street to collect evidence.
“We came down here and they were just taking pictures,” Perkins said. “They had those orange markers on the ground where there might be bullets and stuff like that.”
Police are investigating the shooting as aggravated criminal damage to property offense.
Jordan admitted he “didn’t know how to feel” about the shooting.
But said despite the gunfire, the sneaker giveback was a “great event.”
Perkins said the shooting was kind of a shame.
“I’m hoping that this kind of stuff will taper down and when people do good things like that, it won’t deter other people from doing good things.”
The NOPD is searching for suspects.
In a statement, YEP CEO Melissa Sawyer said, "Although the shooting was completely unrelated to the event Cam Jordan hosted for YEP young people, we are saddened and disheartened that an occasion meant to be uplifting and special for youth in our city was instead scary and traumatizing,"
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