NEW ORLEANS, July 30 (UPI) -- New Orleans police searched Sunday for the killers of six people gunned down in the hurricane-ravaged city's bloodiest weekend since mid-June.
The six violent deaths in less than 24 hours included a quadruple killing not far from the historic French Quarter, the Times-Picayune reports.
The dead in the quadruple homicide included three brothers and a family friend. police said.
Police Superintendent Warren Riley described the shootings as a brazen act of street violence by two men. He said his detectives were making progress finding the killers.
The two other killings were unrelated, police said.
The weekend's shootings bring New Orleans' homicide toll to 78 this year.
Until this weekend, the city's bloodiest 24-hour period since Katrina was June 17, when five teenagers were gunned down in the Central City neighborhood. Those killings prompted Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco to send more than 300 National Guard troops and 50 state troopers to the city to augment the city's shrinking police force.
