New Orleans police: Mardi Gras parade shooting kills 1

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – One person was killed and another wounded along the route of a Mardi Gras parade Thursday night, police said, but the popular event rolled on.

About 10 p.m., a person produced a gun and shot the two people during the Muses parade, police spokesman Frank Robertson said.

A suspect was in custody, and a weapon was recovered nearby.

The shooting was the result of an argument between two of the men, Robertson said.

Angela Matherne, of Thibodaux, was taking in the parade – the traditional kickoff to Carnival weekend – with family when the shooting happened a block away. Matherne told The Associated Press that she didn’t hear anything “but saw people running in our direction and police in the opposite.”

Matherne said the parade kept going and she didn’t realize there had been a shooting until later, when she left the route.

Robertson said officers stationed nearby responded immediately and barriers were set up, but the parade rolled on.

One victim was struck in the chest and died in surgery, Robertson said. The other was struck in the neck and was in the hospital.

In at least eight of the past 11 years, shootings and gun deaths have marred the city’s Carnival festitivies. The shootings have occurred in nightclubs, on Bourbon Street, or along Carnival parade routes.

In 2013, four people were wounded in a shooting on Bourbon Street on the Saturday before Mardi Gras.

Video footage of the shooting showed many partying in costumes before what police described as an argument between one of the wounded and two other men.

The city will host several parades daily through Mardi Gras, which is Tuesday.