New Orleans shooting at an informal Mother's Day parade has left 19 people injured, 17 adults and two children aged 10 years old, according to reports.
The FBI said that the shooting appeared to be "street violence" and wasn't linked to terrorism, according to the Associated Press. Police said many of the victims were grazed, and most of the wounds were not life-threatening. A news release said the wounded included two 10-year-olds. It also said two people were in surgery.
"It's strictly an act of street violence in New Orleans," said FBI spokeswoman Mary Beth Romig. The southern city has one of the highest violent crime rates in the U.S.
The shootings started just before 2 p.m. in the Seventh Ward, north of the French Quarter, according to the Wall Street Journal. There were as many as 400 people in the procession.
It wasn't clear how many shooters were involved in the incident or what the motive was. Authorities were seeking at least one man spotted fleeing the scene. He was described as dark-skinned, 18 to 22 years old, with short hair and wearing a T-shirt and blue-jean shorts-a description that could cover many people at the scene.
The neighborhood where the shooting occurred has been described as home to a mix of low-income and middle-class row houses, some boarded up. As of last year, the neighborhood's population was about 60 percent of its pre-Hurricane Katrina level.
Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas told WVUE that it appears "two or three people just, for a reason unknown to us, started shooting at, towards, or in the crowd."
He asked anyone with information to call authorities.
