Five people shot in Louisiana incident; 3rd U.S. multiple shooting in one day

[April 19, 2021]  (Reuters) -Five people were hospitalized after being shot and injured in Shreveport, Louisiana, CBS-affiliated television station KSLA reported late on Sunday, the third multiple shooting reported in the United States with 24 hours.

In a briefing to local news outlets, police said they were in the first stages of investigating the incident, without confirming the number of people admitted to hospital nor their condition.

Police officers were responding to traffic congestion reports when shots were heard, a police spokesman told reporters. "We responded this evening to a traffic congestion and during that congestion, numerous shots were fired," the spokesman said.

One victim was shot in the head, while another suffered multiple gunshot wounds, according to local news outlet Love Shreveport-Bossier.

Sunday's incidents came with the United States already on edge over a surge in shootings in recent weeks. A gunman killed eight workers and himself at an Indianapolis FedEx center on Thursday night, with at least seven deadly mass shootings reported in the United States over the past month.

In Shreveport, located in northwest Louisiana, multiple police units were dispatched to the scene of the incident, which took place around 9 p.m. local time on Sunday on Hearne Avenue, according to the KSLA report. Victims were taken to Ochsners LSU Health and other local hospitals, the report added.

Police personnel and their vehicles are seen near the scene in the aftermath of a drive-by shooting at a liquor store in Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S., April 18, 2021, in this still image from video obtained via social media. LOVE SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER via REUTERS 

Reuters was not immediately able to contact local police. The Shreveport mayor's office didn't immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

Earlier on Sunday three people died at an apartment complex in Austin, Texas and authorities were hunting for a former deputy sheriff wanted in connection with the fatal shooting. Separately, three people were killed and two wounded in a shooting at a bar in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, in the early hours of Sunday.

The spate of shootings has increased public pressure to tighten gun regulations. Most Americans support tougher gun laws, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, but Washington has done little to address the problem in recent years.

(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

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