Four Wounded in Bourbon Street Shooting

Mardi Gras celebrations took a turn for the worse Saturday, when a shooting injured four on historic Bourbon Street. Cutting through New Orleans’ French Quarter, Bourbon Street is a central hub for Mardi Gras partiers. Crowds scattered on Saturday night when four shots erupted from an argument in the street. Police are searching for a group of three men involved in the shooting, which was recorded by a witness.

One man was in guarded condition after being shot in the abdomen, thigh and pelvis, while another male victim was shot in the buttocks. Two women are also among the injured, one suffering from a shot to the toe, and the other with wounds to her chin and foot.

“Everyone immediately started running and the cops immediately started running toward where people were running from,” Louisiana State University student Patrick Clay told the Times-Picayune. “I was with a group of about seven people and at that point, we all just kind of grasped hands and made our way through the crowd as soon as possible.”

Even after the shooting, the party continued for some visitors. Mardi Gras celebrations will continue through Feb. 12, Fat Tuesday. The city also hosted this year’s Super Bowl, bringing in even more tourists for the holiday.

“It’s not an OK thing that happened, and it’s definitely scary. But I’m not going to let it affect my night,” visitor Julia Rosenthal told the Associated Press.

Independent journalism still matters.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top