4 dead, at least 7 injured in late night Fourth of July shooting in Louisiana

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA/Gray News) - Officials say four people are dead and at least seven were injured in a shooting at a block party in Shreveport late Tuesday.

Shreveport police said they responded to reports of a shooting just before midnight on Tuesday at Pearl Avenue near Jones Mabry Road.

Syncere Brown, 17, has been identified by family members as one of the people shot and killed.

District A Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor and other city officials gathered for a press conference just after 10 a.m. to address the incident.

The councilwoman estimated that over 200 people were in attendance last night and asked for anyone with information on the suspects to call in immediately. She also called for the city to install cameras in the neighborhood to help monitor crime.

Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said he believes the shooting was intended to hurt certain individuals. He said they are working to contact families of the victims before releasing their identities.

“As we all know, there are a few evil people in our city that cause a lot of heartache and a lot of pain. We’re going to partner and work even closer with our law enforcement partners to minimize the damage caused by these very few evil people,” he said.

Mayor Tom Arceneaux echoed the call for anyone with information to come forward.

“I’m asking every citizen to pray, to support, to provide information, so the healing process can begin as quickly as possible,” he said. “We are a better community than this.”

City Marshal James Jefferson offered his condolences to the families of the victims.

An investigation into the mass shooting is ongoing.

Police on the scene say it was difficult for them to get to the victims due to the amount of vehicles on the scene.

“Getting here and getting EMS here was a difficult thing. A lot of us had to park our cars and take off running because there were so many cars on the side of the street,” said police Lt. Van Wray.

Taylor said the gathering was a block party that is held every year on the Fourth of July.

“This should not happen. Now we are the victims of a mass shooting in our community. ... It is trauma for those individuals that only wanted to have a very good time on this holiday,” she said.

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