METAIRIE, La. (AP) – One person entered a gun shop and shooting range in a suburb of New Orleans and shot two people dead on Saturday, causing customers and staff to open fire on the shooter, a sheriff said. The shooter also died.
The shooting took place around 2:50 p.m. in the Jefferson Gun Outlet in the suburb of Metairie, according to a release from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said the shooter initially hit two people inside, and then several other people – employees or retail customers – opened fire on the shooter both inside and outside the building. Outside the building, a man could be seen behind the yellow police band shouting, “Where’s my son?”
Rifles and ammunition are sold at the front of the outlet that overlooks a main road through Jefferson Parish. Customers who want to visit the shooting range usually go to the side entrance of the building. Employees who work there often carry a side arm.
Lopinto said two other people were also hit by gunfire and hospitalized in stable condition. He said there were several gunmen in all and that the investigators were just starting to find out what had happened.
“We’re trying to put it all together,” the sheriff said.
None of the dead or injured was immediately identified and details remained vague. Lopinto said the investigation continued as authorities tried to find out the exact details of what happened.
Warning tape surrounded the company to prevent onlookers from getting close to where ambulances and numerous police vehicles had previously arrived. A neighboring Taco Bell had been evacuated.
Metairie is a large New Orleans suburb about five miles west of the city’s iconic French Quarter, in neighboring Jefferson Parish.
This story has been updated to correct the store’s name to the Jefferson Gun Outlet.