METAIRIE, LA (AP) – A person entered an gun shop and a shooting range in a New Orleans suburb and fatally shot two people Saturday, causing customers and staff to open fire on the shooter, he said. say a sheriff. The shooter also died.
The shooting occurred at the Jefferson Gun Outlet in the Metairie suburb around 2:50 p.m., according to a statement from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said the shooter initially hit two people inside and then several people, whether employees or customers of the store, opened fire on the shooter, both inside and outside. exterior of the building. Outside the building, a man could be seen behind the yellow police ribbon shouting, “Where’s my son?”
Weapons and ammunition are sold at the front of the dam leading to a main thoroughfare through Jefferson Parish. Customers who want to frequent the gun gate usually go to the side entrance of the building. Staff working there usually carry a side arm.
Lopinto said two other people were also shot and were hospitalized in stable condition. He said there were several shooters in total and investigators had just started trying to reconcile what had happened.
“We’re trying to put it all together, put it together,” the sheriff said.
None of the dead or injured were identified immediately and details were incomplete. Lopinto said the investigation was continuing as authorities tried to determine the exact details of what happened.
A caution tape surrounded the business to prevent spectators from approaching the venue, where ambulances and numerous police vehicles had previously arrived. A neighbor Taco Bell had been evacuated.
Metairie is a major suburb of New Orleans, about eight miles west of the city’s iconic French Quarter, in neighboring Jefferson Parish.
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This story has been updated to correct the store name in Jefferson Gun Outlet.