Halloween shootings leave 2 dead, 14 hurt, While New Orleans Hosts VODOO and HALLOWEEN!

Published: Tuesday, November 01, 2011, 11:15 PM
"Excerpts taken from:Danny Monteverde, The Times-Picayune"
New Orleans officials scrambled Tuesday to restore a sense of calm to a citizenry on edge hours after two gunmen opened fire on a crowd of costumed Halloween revelers on Bourbon Street in an act of carelessness that was shocking even in a city inured to street violence. It was one of five separate shootings over the holiday that left two dead and 14 others injured, with most of the mayhem centered in the tourist hub of the French Quarter.
The intersection of Bourbon and Streets is reflected in crime camera, Monday, October 31, 2011 where eight people were caught in gunfire that erupted on Halloween night after midnight. One man died in the shooting. New Orleans reels from a night of murder caught on film gallery (9 photos)
In the bloodiest incident, a shootout between two men broke out near a storied club on Bourbon Street just after midnight, leaving one of the gunmen dead and injuring seven people who were caught in the crossfire.
Just over an hour later, four others were shot on Canal Street at the edge of the Quarter. One of them died at the hospital. There were also nonfatal shootings in Mid-City, Bywater and St. Roch after the sun went down Monday evening.The mayhem came at the culmination of one of the busiest fall weekends for New Orleans hotels, which were chockablock with guests attending the Voodoo Festival or celebrating Halloween."Halloween is something we really market as a visitor attraction," said Kelly Schulz, a spokeswoman for the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. "The hotels in the city were pretty much sold out. And the French Quarter was full."The shootings made national news almost immediately, with CNN and several national websites featuring prominent stories about the mayhem. Mark Romig, CEO of the New Orleans Tourism and Marketing Corporation, said his organization is monitoring industrywide communication about the incidents and countering them with messages about the millions of visitors New Orleans hosts each year without incident.