2 slain, 5 hurt, including 3 children, in New Orleans drive-by shooting; no motive or suspects

NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans police were investigating a drive-by shooting Monday that killed a man and an 18-year-old woman and wounded five other people, three of them children.

The shooting happened around 8 p.m. Sunday in the city’s Lower 9th Ward, a neighbourhood that was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and has struggled with crime.

A woman and two children aged 2 and 4, were in critical condition and a 13-year-old girl and a 37-year-old woman were in stable condition, according to Officer Frank Robertson.

All the victims were in front of a house when a dark car occupied by several men drove up, opened fire and sped off, Robertson said. Police have not release very many details of the shooting or a description of the suspects.

The Lower 9th, a predominantly black neighbourhood less than 5 miles from the bustling tourist district of the French Quarter, was overwhelmed by Hurricane Katrina’s floods in 2005.

The shooting is the latest in a city dependent on tourism. In June, two men exchanged gunfire on Bourbon Street, killing one person and wounding nine others.