At least one person has been killed and five people were injured and transported to the hospital Thursday when two groups exchanged gunfire inside the food court at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge, according to police.
Several of the people involved ran off as a large police presence responded.
“To the thugs that did this, we’re going to catch you,” Baton Rouge mayor Sid Edwards told reporters.
Authorities are looking for suspects with assistance from multiple agencies, including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
“Two groups of people got into an argument inside the food court and started shooting at each other,” Baton Rouge police chief TJ Morse told reporters. “Unfortunately there were some innocent people in the area who might have also caught some rounds.”
Five people were reportedly taken into custody.
He said officers received calls at about 1.22pm reporting gunfire in the food court area. Video surveillance later showed the two groups arguing before opening fire on one another, Morse said.
He urged anyone who witnessed the incident to share any video footage.
Morse later clarified that five people had been injured, after previously saying there had been 10 total wounded. At least two people required surgery.
The person who was killed was not immediately identified.
“Right now there is no known threat to the public,” he said. “Right here is the safest place in Baton Rouge.”
According to WBRZ, one of its staff members was among those inside the mall who were moved to a secure holding area, while officers outside escorted others back to their vehicles.
Stanley Jackson, a FedEx employee, told Louisiana newspaper the Advocate that he was on the mall’s second level when the shooting started. He said he believed “several different guns went off” and that soon after “everybody started running”.
Jackson added that he saw four people lying on the ground and bleeding.
Kennedy Barnum, 22, told the Associated Press that she was at the mall to get lunch at the food court when she heard a woman on the phone outside say: “I’ll call you back. There’s an active shooter in the mall.”
Barnum described seeing people running and crying as law enforcement arrived within minutes. “We spoke to a security guard there and she told us that there was an active shooter there, people were shot and injured, and we should leave immediately,” Barnum told the AP.
Governor Jeff Landry said he had been informed about the incident and urged residents to stay away from the area. He said he and his wife “are praying for those affected and are grateful for a quick response by our law enforcement officials”, in a statement on X.
The incident follows another shooting earlier this week in Louisiana, when eight children were killed and two adults were wounded in a mass shooting in Shreveport, in what police called a “domestic violence incident”.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
