Suspect arrested after shooting along Mardi Gras parade route leaves 1 dead, 4 others injured, New Orleans police say

By Elizabeth Wolfe and Dakin Andone, CNN

A man is in custody after one person was killed and four others — including a 4-year-old girl — were injured in a shooting Sunday night along a Mardi Gras parade route ahead of the city’s raucous celebration this week, the New Orleans Police Department said Monday.

Mansour Mbodj, 21, was arrested for illegally carrying a weapon within minutes of the shooting, NOPD Interim Superintendent Michelle Woodfork said during a news briefing. Mbojdj was additionally charged late Monday with second-degree murder, according to online jail records.

Mbodj has been assigned a public defender, court records show, and CNN has reached out to the office for comment. His first appearance is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, the records show.

The deceased victim is a teenage boy between the ages of 15 and 18, Woodfork said. The four other victims, among them an 18-year-old man, a 22-year-old woman and 24-year-old woman, were treated at hospitals and have been released, Woodfork added.

The gunfire erupted around 9:30 p.m. along the route of the popular Krewe of Bacchus parade — traditionally held in the run-up to the Mardi Gras celebration this Tuesday — interrupting a quintessential New Orleans festivity and underscoring the continued prevalence of gun violence in all venues of American life.

New Orleans police and officers from other agencies were already in the area when they heard the gunshots, Woodfork said. “Within moments,” they had apprehended a suspect and found two weapons at the scene, the superintendent said.

“We can’t say who fired a weapon, who was involved in the shooting at this time,” Woodfork said, adding the shooting is under investigation by homicide detectives. “We have to wait til we get our ballistics results back to really be sure what guns were fired and then who may have been doing the shooting.”

Woodfork described the shooting as an “isolated incident.” Police are committed to making sure Mardi Gras is a safe, family friendly event, Woodfork said, noting police have recovered 112 guns near the parade routes.

Additional police are riding around the perimeters of the parades to ensure attendees’ safety, she said, encouraging the public to inform police if they see someone with a weapon.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell said in a statement Monday that the city will not be deterred from keeping residents and visitors safe during carnival season.

“Last night’s incidents do not and will not reflect the successful Carnival season we have experienced thus far. This is unacceptable behavior and will not be tolerated,” she said in the statement.

Cantrell said law enforcement agencies from across the state are deploying more than 100 additional personnel to assist NOPD in keeping parade routes safe.

“Mardi Gras is about coming together to celebrate the greatest free show on earth. We must continue to parade safely; leave the violence at home! It has no place in the City of New Orleans, and it has no place near our parade routes,” the mayor said.

The US has suffered 80 mass shootings in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit that defines mass shootings as those in which four or more people were shot, not including the shooter.

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CNN’s Jennifer Henderson and Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.