Outside University Medical Center, Kawandra Hayney said she had been driving about two or three blocks from the playground with her daughter when people ran by shooting.
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Asked whether gang activity was thought to be involved, Mr Gamble said it “was still too soon to say”. No arrests were immediately reported.
Ten of the victims were taken to the hospital by paramedics, while six others got there on their own.
Mr Gamble said each of the 16 victims suffered either a “direct gunshot wound” or a “graze wound” and all were listed in stable condition, though the full extent of their injuries was still to be ascertained.
Eleven of the injured are under age 21. Michael Harrison are asking for the public’s help in the search for the shooters who wounded 17 people at Bunny Friend Playground in the 9th Ward Sunday evening.
The shooting took place at around 6 p.m. local time after approximately 500 people had gathered at Bunny Friend Playground in the city’s 9th Ward to film a music video, the New Orleans Police Department said in a statement.
“But we were trying to preserve the crime scene as best as we could and tend to the victims”, he added.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison also was quoted by the “Times-Picayune” as saying, “no one has died at this time”.
Whoever was behind the set, the music was still playing when the shooting prompted what witnesses called a “stampede”. He said it’s “highly possible” that the shooting was related to the city’s heroin trade but authorities are still investigating.
The mayor called on witnesses to come forward, but by late Monday morning nobody had offered either video of the shootout or descriptions or IDs of the gunmen, officer Frank Robertson said. Harrison questioned how two groups of people could open fire on each other – with what appears to be automatic weapons, judging from the shell casings – with hundreds of people in between them.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu bowed his head as a pastor lead a prayer peace.
Landrieu said in September that statistics show overall violent crime is down in New Orleans over the past 20 years. Incidents like Sunday’s shooting can “change the feel of the city quickly”, Sharf said.
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Political opponents have criticized Landrieu for allowing the police force to fall below 1,200 officers when officials say it should be around 1,600. But Landrieu has said that is the result of hard choices made after he inherited an $80 million budget deficit in 2010.
