Suspect booked in New Orleans parade shooting that killed 1

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Police say a man accused of opening fire during a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans has been booked with second-degree murder.

Police arrested 21-year-old Mansour Mbodj shortly after the Sunday night shooting that left one person dead and four others injured near the Krewe of Bacchus parade route corner of St. Charles Avenue and Terpsichore Street.

The victim, who died in surgery, was described as a male between the ages of 15 and 18. His identity has not been disclosed, WVUE reports.

The other four victims, a 4-year-old girl, an 18-year-old man, a 22-year-old woman, and a 24-year-old woman, were released from the hospital as of Monday morning.

Mansour was initially booked Sunday night with illegal carrying of a weapon, pending ballistics test results from two weapons confiscated at the scene.

Interim New Orleans Police Department Supt. Michelle Woodfork said Monday the investigation was ongoing but that homicide detectives had already collected sufficient evidence to obtain their warrant alleging that Mbodj committed the murder.

Mbodj faces a mandatory lifetime state prison sentence, if charged and convicted of second-degree murder. But to charge that offense, the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office must first present the case to a grand jury that returns a murder indictment.

Additional charges involving the wounding of the other shooting victims could be forthcoming.

Woodfork also said investigators haven’t made a determination on whether Mbodj was the only person to fire a gun at the scene.

Woodfork hailed the quick work of NOPD and other partner agencies’ officers in making the arrest. Personnel from the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, the Louisiana State Police and the Louisiana Department of Corrections were assisting on the route.

Woodfork said the NOPD was aware of previous dangerous incidents and had deployed additional officers along that stretch of the parade route.