April 15 (UPI) -- A woman is dead and 11 others wounded after a mass shooting Sunday night at a nightclub in the Warehouse District of New Orleans.
The shooting left one person dead and happened before 12 a.m. local time at a New Orleans nightclub called Republic NOLA, according to authorities. The victim was found face down on the sidewalk outside the club.
Six women and five men also were injured during the shooting, which took place in the 800 block of South Peters Street. There was no official word on the victims' conditions.
"The only thing I can say at this time is that, luckily, all of the staff are safe and the incident was entirely outside," club owner Nick Thomas said Monday.
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A witness at Republic NOLA identified the shooting victim as a 24-year-old woman from the area.
Another visitor to the club that night who hid in the bathroom also echoed what others had said.
"They were playing music," said witness Cayla Green.
"All you heard was 'bop, bop, bop, bop.' Like maybe at least 10 times, at the least. Somebody said somebody came and they said, 'Move, I'm about to light this up.' And that's when the shots fired," Green said.
Multiple city, state and federal officials had addressed the situation on social media. But some city council members called for the New Orleans Police Department to invoke a "padlock ordinance" that would revoke the club's liquor license and possibly shut it down.
Club owner Thomas told WDSU that his establishment had never had prior incident before Sunday night's shooting and that the shooting suspect had not been a visiting patron.
He said he would work with city officials but asked for fairness with the padlock ordinance because his is the only Black-owned bar on the block.
"Last night's mass shooting is incredibly tragic, and I have grave concern that we may see situations like this increase when the state's concealed carry law goes into effect," New Orleans' City Council President Helena Moreno said in a statement. "This law will make it even more difficult for NOPD to takes guns off our streets in New Orleans and prevent shootings."
