At least one person is dead and five others were wounded after two groups opened fire on each other inside the food court at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge in Louisiana on Thursday afternoon, according to AP. Among those caught in the crossfire were high school seniors who had gathered at the mall for “senior skip day”.
Who were the victims?
Lafayette Mayor-President Monique Blanco Boulet confirmed in a Facebook post that three of the people shot were seniors at Ascension Episcopal School.
He has also released a statement saying that it was “heartbroken by the news that some of our students were involved in a serious off-campus incident,” and added, “Our priority is the care of our students and school family.”
A Denham Springs woman, Jolene Sizemore told the Acadiana Advocate that her niece, who studies at Ascension Episcopal was at the mall with friends when the shooting happened. She said her niece told her that a friend was shot “pretty bad” and had to be taken to the hospital.
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Sources also told The Acadiana Advocate that one Ascension student was in critical condition but it is not clear if both reports are about the same person.
Baton Rouge Police Chief TJ Morse confirmed that there were a total of six victims, according to 6WJAC. He said one person was killed, one is in surgery and four others have minor injuries. He also added that innocent people in the area may have been caught in the gunfire.
After the shooting, Ascension Episcopal School cancelled its baseball game which was scheduled for Thursday night.
What happened and where the investigation stands?
According to 6WJAC, police in Baton Rouge received reports of shots fired at the food court around 1:30pm local time. TJ Morse said surveillance video showed two groups arguing before the situation turned into gunfire.
“What we found out looking through surveillance video is it looks like it was kind of a targeted, two groups of people getting into an argument inside the food court and started shooting at each other,” Morse said.
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He made it clear that the shooting was not random and said there is no ongoing threat to the public. Five suspects were taken into custody but no formal arrests had been made as of 4:30pm local time, according to The Advocate. Police were still looking for at least two more suspects on Thursday afternoon.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry also responded on X, saying he was working with law enforcement and thanking officers for their quick response. “I am in coordination with law enforcement and we will update as we know more. Please avoid the area,” he wrote.
