“We as a society are talking about social justice versus social injustice. We as a community must look at ourselves,” New Orleans Police Chief Shaun Ferguson told reporters at the scene.
The 9-year-old boy was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward, according to a police department statement. Ferguson said the boy was shot in the head. Police originally said the boy was 10 years old.
The mayor described the shock the family is feeling and “deep pain that could be seen in their eyes.”
“No parent, no family should go through that,” de Blasio said.
A 12-year-old boy was injured in the leg in another shooting in New York over the weekend.
“It is heartbreaking for many reasons. It starts with the fact that there are so many weapons and that it is a New York tragedy and a national tragedy,” De Blasio said Monday.
‘An unthinkable act’
“Innocent bystanders. I don’t know what they were shooting for. They are killing babies. They just killed a baby. A good baby. A 9 year old baby,” Donald Bryant told WDSU.
The three victims were on a residential street Monday when they were approached on foot by at least one person who opened fire, Ferguson said. It is unclear if the victims and the shooters knew each other.
Ferguson said he was “begging” the community to submit information on what he called “an unthinkable act.”
“We don’t want justice on the street. We don’t want more blood on our streets,” said Ferguson. “Let us handle it, get us that information, and let us do our job.”
The two teens were taken to hospital: a 15-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to the stomach and a 13-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the leg. Ferguson said they were both in stable condition. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a NOPD statement.
“It is not only unfortunate, it is unacceptable behavior that we cannot accept in New Orleans,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Monday night.
Killed doing ordinary things
The Davonte and Davell shootings follow in the footsteps of at least six other children who were killed by gun violence over the July 4 weekend in the United States.
The children, ages 6 to 14, were shot dead while doing everyday things.
Natalia Wallace, 7, was shot while playing with a group of children on a playground in Chicago.
Royta De’Marco Giles, 8, was visiting a shopping center in Hoover, Alabama, when a shooting erupted among a group of men.
Davon McNeal, 11, was visiting relatives in southeast Washington, DC. He was running from his family’s car to his aunt’s house to grab a phone charger when the shooting started.
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