BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana authorities have charged a 17-year-old with murder, and they are searching for another suspect after bystanders were caught in the crossfire of a shooting at a mall in Baton Rouge on Thursday that killed one teenage girl.
During a news conference Friday, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry vowed to crack down on gang violence that has plagued the capital city. The tough-on-crime governor, who said he spoke with FBI Director
Kash Patel, promised to utilize state, local and federal resources to address the issue and that consequences "are going to start being felt immediately.”
Landry said he is asking all levels and sectors of law enforcement — including the National Guard, FBI, U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — to “prepare for a targeted warrant sweep” for anyone connected to the mall shooting and focus on the “neighborhoods that these individuals came out of.” Landry said the sweep also includes adults who “enable juvenile offenders" and “need to face consequences as well.”
“We are not going to allow our streets, our schools and our public spaces to become your battleground,” Landry said. “Those who brought this violence into our public spaces and into the lives of our ordinary citizens, I want you to know you are now the criminal problem and we are focused on you.”
Baton Rouge Police Chief TJ Morse said the shooting seemed to be driven by “social media beefs and maybe gang-related stuff,” but the investigation is ongoing. One thing Morse said he was sure of was that the shooting was not a random act.
“We know that this was two groups of people that met up at the mall, exchanged words and then pulled guns and innocent people were hit," Morse said.
Shoppers and workers inside the Mall of Louisiana on Thursday afternoon fled or hid, as shots rang out at in the food court. Morse said that two officers on duty at the mall ran toward the gunfire without hesitation and rendered aid. Their quick action helped save lives, he said.
Hundreds of police officers — some wearing tactical gear and carrying long riffles — descended on the mall, as helicopters circled above.
Five people were injured in the shooting, including a 43-year-old man who is still in critical condition. Martha Odom, 17 year old high school student from Lafayette, died. Odom was visiting the mall with friends for her “senior skip day,” The Advocate reported. Two other high school students from Odom's school, Ascension Episcopal School, were among the injured.
In a social media post by the school, Odom was described as “a joyful presence whose kindness and infectious enthusiasm brought light to all who knew her.”
Following the shooting, five people were taken into custody, but later released. A 17-year-old was arrested Friday after turning himself in, Morse said. The teen has been charged with first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder and a count of illegal use of a weapon. Morse said the juvenile has an extensive criminal history within the juvenile court system.
Authorities are still searching for another suspect and asking the public for any information.
During Friday's news conference, Landry vehemently told reporters that if it was up to him the suspects would “spend the rest of their lives” at Louisiana's notorious state penitentiary — better known as Angola.
Under recently enacted Louisiana law, 17-year-olds are treated as adults in the criminal justice system.
The deadly shooting, is the second high-profile case of gun violence in Louisiana this week. A father fatally shot eight children, including seven of his own, in an attack on his family Sunday morning that stretched across two houses in a Shreveport neighborhood, police said. Two women, including the gunman’s wife who was the mother of their children, were critically wounded.
Additionally this week, a mass shooting plot at a festival in Louisiana was thwarted. A former North Carolina law enforcement officer who authorities say planned to kill Black people in a mass shooting at a major New Orleans festival was arrested at a Florida hotel with a handgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
