French Quarter shooting leaves 5 people wounded
A gunman wounded five people in a French Quarter bar early Tuesday, the latest violence in a city struggling to rein in crime as it recovers from Hurricane Katrina.
The gunman entered Club Decatur about 12:30 a.m., shot three men and left two women grazed by bullet fragments, said police Sgt. Jeffrey Johnson.
The shooting followed a rap concert at the nearby House of Blues, where about 400 people filled the streets, Assistant Police Supt. S.B. Nicholas said.
The shooting was thought to have grown out of an earlier altercation, Nicholas said.
Two of the men were on parole for drug and weapon charges and the third had been arrested on those charges.
Two of the men were in critical condition Tuesday night. The third was stable, police said.
New Orleans has seen a rise in violent crime in recent months as hurricane evacuees return.
In June, after five teenagers were shot to death in one night, National Guard troops and state police were sent to the city to help police through December.
As of Tuesday, the city’s homicide count for the year was 128. With a population of around 187,000, that translates to a per-capita homicide rate roughly 10 times the national average.
Most of the crime has been in areas not frequented by tourists, but the French Quarter has seen its share of violence.
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