Police: 4 shot at Dollar Tree in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE/Gray News) - Gun violence in New Orleans that began Wednesday afternoon continued through the night and into Thursday afternoon, wounding seven people and killing three.

Police responded to a quadruple shooting on Thursday around 12:30 p.m. at a Dollar Tree in the 4200 block of Chef Menteur Highway.

Police said two of the victims were juvenile males, and two were adults - one man, and one woman. All of the injuries were reportedly non-life-threatening. The victims have been transported to local hospitals for treatment.

In a news conference shortly after the shooting, police said a gunman approached in a black Kia Optima, jumped out with a long rifle, and intended to shoot two victims who were sitting outside the store.

Two innocent bystanders who were shopping inside the Dollar Tree also sustained gunshot wounds.

The gunman reportedly fled in the Kia Optima with a driver whom police are also actively trying to identify and locate.

Witnesses said it “sounded like machine guns” and bystanders were seen scrambling to find cover in and behind vehicles in the parking lot. The windows and the doors of the Dollar Tree were shot out.

The quadruple shooting is the latest in a string of violent incidents in New Orleans that began with a double homicide Wednesday.

Around 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 7, police say a 17-year-old female was found shot to death in the parking lot of a Walgreens at the intersection of Elysian Fields Avenue and Gentilly Boulevard, 1.5 miles down the road from the quadruple shooting. Police said an adult male was also shot multiple times. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

Evidence markers littered the Walgreens parking lot, indicative of the possibility of multiple gunmen engaged in a shootout. Bullet holes riddled the storefront and shattered windows.

Around 6:21 p.m., the New Orleans Police Department say a man was shot in the 200 block of Treme Street at an apartment building and was taken to a hospital in a private vehicle.

At 9:14 p.m., a woman was shot and killed in the 7000 block of Lawrence Road near another apartment building.

About two hours later, at 11:33 p.m., police say a man was shot in the 9300 block of Airline Highway on the Orleans/Jefferson Parish line.

The violence spilled over into the early morning hours, with NOPD confirming another man shot around 2:10 a.m. Thursday at the intersection of S. Claiborne Avenue and Poydras Street.

Police have not identified any suspects or motives for the shootings in the last 24 hours. NOPD says they will release a photo of the black Kia Optima when it becomes available.

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