2 killed, 10 wounded in shootings near New Orleans parade route

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Two people were killed and 10 others were wounded in two separate shootings along a parade route and celebration on Sunday, authorities said. There were no immediate arrests.

Officers responding to reports of gunfire shortly after 3:30 p.m. on an avenue in the city's St. Roch neighborhood found eight victims with gunshot wounds, according to a news release from the New Orleans Police Department. All eight were taken to hospitals in unknown condition. Police later said a ninth wounded person arrived at a hospital via a private car.

About 45 minutes later, police received another report of gunfire as revelers were crossing the Almonaster Avenue Bridge, just over half a mile (.8 km) to the north. One person died at the scene and another died at a hospital, police said. A third victim was driven to a hospital in a private vehicle and is in stable condition, police said.

No arrests were announced and no suspect information was released. The St. Roch neighborhood is outside the city's French Quarter that is popular with tourists, located several blocks northeast of the quarter.

The Almonaster Bridge was closed in both directions during the investigation.

Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said detectives didn't immediately know if the incidents were related.

“They were ... different kinds of approaches,” she said of the shootings, which occurred in the area where a “second line,” a celebration following a parade, was taking place. The second line is one NOLA.com reported

“It is a wonderful event, and we want to keep it a wonderful event,” Kirkpatrick told NOLA.com.

It was the second major shooting in the South since gunfire marred a homecoming weekend at Tuskegee University in Alabama on Nov. 10, leaving one person dead and injuring 16 others, a dozen of them by gunfire, authorities said.