METAIRIE, Louisiana (AP) – One person entered a gun shop and shooting range in a New Orleans suburb and killed two people on Saturday, causing customers and employees to open fire on the sniper, a sheriff said. The sniper also died.
The shooting took place at the Jefferson Gun Outlet, in the suburb of Metairie, at about 2:50 pm, according to a statement from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said the shooter initially hit two people inside, and then several other people – whether employees or shop customers – opened fire on the shooter, both inside and outside the building. Outside the building, a man could be seen behind the yellow police tape shouting “Where’s my son?”
Weapons and ammunition are sold in front of the outlet that faces a main road through Jefferson Parish. Customers who wish to frequent the firing range usually go around the side entrance to the building. The employees who work there usually use a gun.
Lopinto said two other people were also shot and hospitalized in stable conditions. He said there were several snipers in all and the investigators were just beginning to try to piece together what happened.
“We are trying to put everything together, put the pieces together,” said the sheriff.
None of the dead or wounded were immediately identified and the details remained vague. Lopinto said the investigation was continuing as authorities tried to determine the exact details of what happened.
A warning tape surrounded the business to prevent onlookers from approaching the spot, where ambulances and several police vehicles had arrived earlier. A neighbor Taco Bell was evacuated.
Metairie is an important suburb of New Orleans, about five miles (eight kilometers) west of the city’s iconic French Quarter, in nearby Jefferson Parish.
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This story has been updated to correct the store name for Jefferson Gun Outlet.