A person was killed and another injured following a shooting at a popular restaurant near the annual jazz festival in New Orleans, the largest city of southern U.S. state Lousiana, authorities said.
The New Orleans Police Department said the fatally shot waiter outside the Mandina’s Restaurant was the intended target of the shooting on the opening day of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.
A female tourist from Chicago for the festival, who was dining inside at the time, was hospitalized and in stable condition, said New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Michelle Woodfork at a news conference.
“A celebratory day was later marred by another senseless act of violence,” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell issued a statement on Saturday.
“We need stronger gun laws and penalties as well as accountability across all public safety agencies if we’re ever going to end this crisis,” the statement reads.
The shooting appeared to be an indiscriminate sidewalk ambush, in which two people with guns unleashed a fusillade on the waiter, local media outlet NOLA reported.
Police have not said whether they have identified the suspects or determined their motive.