BREAKING NEWS: Three people are killed and two injured after shooter opened fire at Louisiana gun shop before being shot dead by bystanders
- A gunman walked into Jefferson Gun Outlet in Metairie before 3pm and opened fire
- Customers inside the gun shop engaged the suspect in gunfire, who was killed
- Suspect entered the gun store with a loaded gun unholstered, sources told a local outlet
Three are dead and two have been injured after a man walked in to a Louisiana gun shop and started shooting as customers engaged him in gunfire.
The suspect was one of the people killed in the shootout with customers and employees, according to a press release.
Cops said that just before 3pm officers were dispatched to the Jefferson Gun Outlet, on the 6900 block of Airline Drive in Metairie.
‘We had one initial shooter here at the scene who hit two victims inside the location, both of them have been identified as deceased at this location,’ said Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto during a brief press conference.
‘It appears that several individuals ended up engaging that suspect, whether inside or out here in the parking lot.’
A gunman walked into Jefferson Gun Outlet in Metairie before 3pm and opened fire
Cops said that there are a total of three deceased, including the two victims who were inside the gun shop, which has an attached indoor gun range.
The man entered the gun outlet with a loaded gun unholstered, sources allegedly told WESH-TV.
The outlet reported that the alleged suspect got into an argument with a clerk who told him he should not have a loaded gun until he got inside the range.
Shots were fired when two customers on the indoor range engaged the man, sources told the outlet. Sources told WESH-TV that the man was shot and fired back at the two customers.
Police sources told the outlet that people on the range engaged the shooter to try and keep others safe.
A reporter for the New Orleans Advocate reported seeing two separate ‘shields’ set up in the parking lot, which are ‘typically used to block bodies from view.’
‘Near these shields there is a handgun with an extended magazine on the ground,’ Ramon Antonio Vargas tweeted.
He added: ‘There’s a spent brass bullet casing next to this orange triangle, about 40 yards away from the front entrance of Jefferson Gun Outlet in Metairie, a gun store and indoor shooting range.’
Vargas reported that the store’s front door is shattered, and a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesperson warned news media photographers that ‘one of the victims’ is lying just a few feet from a deputy standing atop glass shards.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ New Orleans Field Division is on the scene, WGNO reported.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Jefferson Gun Outlet for additional information.
The scene is active and there is little information being released.
Cops in Louisiana after investigating a shooting with ‘multiple deaths’ in Louisiana. The shooting occurred on the 6900 block of Airline Drive in Metairie
More to follow.