10 injured in early morning shooting in New Orleans: police

Police in New Orleans are investigating after an early morning shooting left 10 people injured.

In a statement posted early Sunday morning, the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) said the shooting took place in the 700 block of Canal Street just after 3:20 a.m.

NOPD say when officers arrived on scene, they discovered “multiple individuals had been struck by gunfire.”

At a press conference Sunday morning,  New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said 10 victims were transported to local medical facilities for treatment.

“Five were transported to a University hospital, the other five are at Tulane hospital,” he said.

1:30 Police investigating after 11 injured in early morning shooting in New Orleans

Ferguson said two of the individuals are listed in critical condition.

“One sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, the other sustained a gunshot wound to the torso,” he said.

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In a tweet Sunday morning, officers said an eleventh victim walked in to a local hospital for treatment. However, just before 2 p.m. the force issued a correction, saying a total of 10 people were injured in the incident.

According to Ferguson, the street was crowded at the time of the shooting.

“Our officers were out here throughout this entire incident, within feet of where this incident occurred,” he said. “Unfortunately there were so many people out here we are unable to determine who was actually firing shots at that time.”

Police say the investigation is in the preliminary stage, and officers are now in the process of gathering evidence and information.

“We are actively investigating this right now at this very moment recovering any type of video footage,” Ferguson said. “There are witness statements that we can use to further this investigation. We ask if anyone here knows of anything please contact Crime Stoppers or contact us personally and let us know what it is that you have seen.”

According to Ferguson, one person has been detained, however, police “do not know if this individual has any involvement in the incident as of right now.”

In a series of tweets on Sunday New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell called the shooting an “ugly disruption of an otherwise beautiful holiday weekend.”

“We will do everything we can to wrap the victims and their families in our love and support, and to bring the criminals responsible to justice,” she wrote. “The City of New Orleans will not allow incidents like this to derail the progress we have made, or to further disrupt our community.