Man, trailed by shooters, ran into crowd Saturday on South Claiborne

https://www.nola.com/ ^ | 7/29/18 | Hanna Krueger

[BBell]

On Saturday night (July 28), a bustling crowd gathered outside Jazz Daiquiri Lounge and Chicken & Watermelon on South Claiborne Avenue, as it does most weekends. People chatted, frozen drinks in hand, enjoying slightly cooler weather than in recent days when suddenly chaos broke out.

A man bolted across Louisiana Avenue toward the businesses with two hooded subjects, one clutching a long gun and the other a pistol, trailing close behind. The duo haphazardly fired shots in the fleeing man's direction, striking patrons along the way, said Skipper Nichols, who owns Chicken & Watermelon, and reported what he saw after watching footage from a nearby business's security camera.

When the shooters caught up to the man, who police have not yet identified, they repeatedly shot him on the doorstep of Chicken & Watermelon, a neighborhood staple for chicken and watermelon punch. The two subjects then turned and fled down South Claiborne Avenue, leaving a bloody and chaotic scene in their wake, Nichols said.

Nichols arrived at his business Saturday after the shootings occurred to find a man dead on the doorstep of his restaurant and a woman dead at entrance to the Cricket Wireless store next door.

Two men and one woman were killed and seven people were wounded in the shooting, which occurred around 8:30 p.m. in the 3400 block of South Claiborne Avenue Saturday night (July 28). The injured -- including five men and two women -- were in "varying degrees of condition, some more critical than others," according to New Orleans EMS Director Dr. Emily Nichols.

"He ran into a crowd of people," Nichols said. "I think he probably thought, 'If I run by the people, they won't shoot me.' But just everybody got shot."

[BBell]

Your second paragraph defined "Clique gangs and revenge seeking relatives".

I'd say you are pretty accurate. "Laissez les bons temps rouler" is about what the attitude is in the perpetual end of the world party that is New Orleans. My son works in the Quarter and his honey lives in old town but I very rarely venture over there anymore.

I still remember immediately after the hurricane the folks floating around, walking around in water or hanging out in flooded houses and bars just drinking beer and having a good ol'time. It took a few days for reality to set in.