Just days before hundreds of thousands of people are expected to descend on New Orleans for the annual Essence Music Festival, gunfire erupted on Bourbon Street, one of the Big Easy’s most famed locations in the French Quarter. At around 2:45 a.m. on Sunday, June 29, shooting occurred in the 700 block of Bourbon Street, only two blocks from Jackson Square and around the corner from Pat O’Brien’s and Preservation Hall, all popular tourist attractions.
According to eyewitness reports, the melee began when one man intentionally shot at another man before emptying out his gun into the crowd. In all, nine people, not seven, as many are reporting, were injured. Although a female victim has been listed in critical condition, seven are reportedly stable, with no news on the other victim. So far surveillance videos only show people running with victims also lying on the ground.
This is the third shooting on Bourbon Street since 2011. In February of this year, the Saturday before Mardi Gras, an argument erupted into a shooting that resulted in four people being hospitalized. Also, during Halloween in 2011, one person was killed and seven more injured when gunmen started shooting each other.
In response to the violence, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu issued the following statement:
“These kinds of incidents will not go unanswered. NOPD [New Orleans Police Department] was in the immediate vicinity at the time of the incident, and I am confident that between video evidence and eyewitness accounts, we will bring the perpetrators to justice. Our crime fighting efforts have brought murders in the city of New Orleans to a historic nearly 30-year low. But on days like today, the statistics don’t matter because every life is precious — from the 9th Ward to the French Quarter. We will not rest until every corner of this city is safe.”
With the 20th Annual Essence Festival kicking off Thursday, July 3, expect NOPD presence to be high. The city, which has had its well-documented struggles with crime, can ill afford further violent eruptions in its tourism jewel.