At least 19 people, including two children, were injured when gunmen opened fire at a Mother's Day parade in the US state of Louisiana, police said today.
The shooting took place in New Orleans city during the parade. Among those injured were two children, including a 10-year-old girl.
City Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said at least 19 people were shot during the parade in city's 7th Ward yesterday. None of the injuries were expected to be fatal.
Authorities saw three people running away from the scene after the shooting, and at least one suspect was described as a man between the age of 18 to 22.
The victims were part of the second line of people who were following a brass band during the Mother's Day celebrations. Serpas said the parade was just a few blocks long."These are unusual circumstances. We have second lines which occur in the city of New Orleans virtually every weekend at this time of the year," Serpas said.
"We had a full complement of police officers. It appears that these 2 or 3 people just for a reason unknown to us, started shooting at, towards, or in the crowd. It was over in just a couple seconds," he added.