CHAOS

Three Dead After Shootout at Louisiana Gun Store

After a person opened fire inside the store, authorities say employees and customers fired back, leading to a wild gun battle.

Three people are dead after a tumultuous gun battle erupted at a Louisiana gun store on Saturday afternoon, authorities say. It all started after a gunman opened fire on two people inside the Jefferson Gun Outlet in Metairie, killing them both, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto told reporters. That’s when “several individuals ended up engaging that original suspect, whether inside the location or out here in the parking lot.” He said authorities were still in the process of “trying to put it all together” at the grisly crime scene, where “multiple shooters” were thought to be involved, including employees and customers of the store. “We have a total of three deceased, including the two inside,” Lopinto said, adding that two other victims were hospitalized in stable condition. The suspect was among the three killed.

Police have not yet identified the victims, but one of them was identified by his father as a store employee in comments to The New York Times. “He was a great kid, and everybody loves him,” John Fischbach said of his son, Noah, who was 47. A class for people looking to obtain a concealed carry permit was also underway at the store at the time of the shooting, putting a group of students in the midst of the gun battle. One student, Tyrone Russell, told the Times the instructors had students sit in a corner while they went to check what was going on. He said he heard one of them yelling, “Get down! Put the gun down!” before more gunfire rang out.