A 27-year-old man from New Orleans sparked the shootout that killed him and two others on Saturday afternoon at the Jefferson Gun Outlet in Metairie, police sources say.
The sources said Joshua Jamal Williams was carrying a gun with an extended clip to the gun store and indoor firing range at 6719 Airline Drive around 3 p.m. on Saturday when staff told him to unload his gun. Rules prohibit people from loading weapons while out of range.
Williams then fired a round of warning before fatally shooting a shop assistant, 47-year-old Noah Fischbach, who was married and a father, one of the sources said. Several armed people at Jefferson Gun Outlet then began exchanging gunfire with Williams.
“Everyone is tied up there,” says the customer
Williams and a woman were both hit and fatally injured in the fight. He died after running to the parking lot, and the woman died at the store’s glass front door, which had been shattered. Two other people were injured and taken to hospital, and their injuries were not considered life-threatening, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said.
A relative of Williams wondered on Saturday what could have triggered the first shots. The family member doubted Williams, who had gone to the store for target practice while spending time with his brother and some of the children, would have turned up for a shootout at a place known as a meeting place for off-duty law enforcement officers and ex-servicemen.
“That would be a death sentence,” said the relative, who declined to give his name.
Read more here: 3 dead, 2 injured in shooting at Jefferson Gun Outlet in Metairie, authorities say