Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
NEW ORLEANS -- Police officers flooded the scene of North Claiborne and Esplanade Avenues after shots rang out Sunday, sending four people to the hospital.
Police say Richard Macklin got into an argument with a group of people on all terrain vehicles (ATV) at the gas station and opened fire hitting three people.
One of the ATV riders shot back and police say Macklin was shot in the back of the head. All of the injuries are considered non-life threatening. What happened Sunday afternoon doesn't make Pat Pitchford feel any safer living here.
"It's just another day in the neighborhood around here," Pitchford said. "There was a murder near the Mother In-law Lounge and then a girl was raped near here. There's been shootings."
It happened around 4 o'clock in the afternoon right around the time people were leaving the Barkus parade and walking through the area. Craigen Katzmann and Brandi Wolfe live nearby and say they heard what they thought were fireworks.
"She and I were sitting in the living room and talking with all the windows open," said Katzmann. "Then we heard four or five pops that sounded like fire crackers. Knowing the neighborhood we live in, we knew it could be gunshots."
Police put down about 20 evidence markers as crime scene investigators piece together what happened.
Wolfe says she gets an uneasy feeling walking through the area late at night.
"I feel afraid," she added. "I am from New York. I have lived here for six years and I lived in Metairie for the first part of when I moved here. Sometimes it is scary."
Macklin will be face aggravated battery and gun charges once he is released from the hospital.
The person who shot back will not be charged as police called this self-defense.
Everyone riding an ATV was charged with traffic violations.
You can watch NOPD Superintendent Michael Harrison talk about the incident here.