NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Latest on shootings on Mardi Gras in New Orleans (all times local):
4 p.m.
New Orleans’ police chief says investigators believe gang enmity was behind the worst of the city’s shootings on Mardi Gras.
That shooting a few miles from the parade route killed two men and wounded three other people Tuesday night. Superintendent Michael Harrison gave no details about the suspected gang links.
Harrison says arguments among acquaintances apparently touched off two earlier shootings along Tuesday’s parade route. The first wounded two teenagers. The second killed a man.
Harrison made the statements Wednesday during a news conference livestreamed on the department’s Facebook site.
The coroner’s office identified those killed as 29-year-old Maurice Williams, 21-year-old Byron Jackson and 26-year-old Jamar Robinson. Police have a warrant for 21-year-old Eddie Dingle in Williams’ death and have released a photo of a possible suspect in the other parade-route shooting.
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3 p.m.
The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office has identified three men shot and killed on Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
An email from spokesman Jason Melancon identifies two men killed Tuesday night as 21-year-old Byron Jackson and 26-year-old Jamar Robinson. Police have said they were shot in a car outside a party, and one of them drove several blocks to a gas station after the shooting. Three other people were wounded.
The coroner says 29-year-old Maurice Williams was shot Thursday near the Mardi Gras parade route. Police have said he died in a hospital after he got into an argument with another man who pulled a gun. Police say investigators have an arrest warrant for 21-year-old Eddie Dingle in that shooting.
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A festive close to Mardi Gras was marred by shootings across New Orleans that left three people dead and five others wounded.
The first two shootings happened in the afternoon, when fights broke out near the traditional parade route.
Deputy Police Superintendent Paul Noel said one man was shot in the head and was in critical condition, while a juvenile boy was in stable condition with a leg wound. Another man shot during a separate fight, and died of two apparent bullet wounds after being rushed to the hospital, Police Chief Michael Harrison said.
The third shooting began as people celebrated late into the evening at a house party in the Lower 9th Ward, about two miles from the parade route. Witnesses described a fusillade of bullets.
Police spokeswoman Ambria Washington said multiple suspects opened fire on a car with five people inside. The gunfire shattered its windows, flattened its front tires and left more than a dozen bullet holes in the driver’s door.
The driver managed to drive to a nearby gas station before two of them died from their wounds. Arriving officers strung up police tape to keep crowds away. At that scene and outside the family home of some of the victims a few blocks away, mourners were still wearing festive Mardi Gras shirts and hats.
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