Four people were shot in the 6th Ward on Friday at around 8 p.m., as a young man being chased by a gunman ran into the North Miro Street door of Dooky Chase Restaurant, 2301 Orleans Ave.
“The restaurant itself was not the target. It was the person running into the restaurant who was the target,” said Mayor Helena Moreno, who described it as “a very targeted event toward one person.”
All the gunfire happened in the foyer, said New Orleans Police Department Supt. Anne Kirkpatrick, who said that the restaurant patrons who were injured were either waiting for a table or for an Uber to leave.
An inside door, between the foyer and the restaurant, remained shut during the incident, said Kirkpatrick, who said that the shooting incident was captured on video.
The young man, later identified as 19-year-old Kareem Harris, ran into the restaurant’s entryway and collapsed from injuries that would prove to be fatal.
Harris lived in the area, Kirkpatrick said. Some gun casings on the North Miro Street sidewalk led some to speculate that he had already been hit by gunfire by the time he ran into the restaurant’s door.
The gunman, wearing a black hoodie, chased the victim inside and continued to shoot.
The assailant then fled, but with some hesitation. “The perpetrator left the scene, turned around and came back, then left again. So we know the direction,” said Kirkpatrick, implying that he too may be from the area. The chief asked nearby residents to look at their Ring cameras to see if they saw anything that could help police identify the suspect.
The three injured bystanders, all visitors from out of town, were taken to the hospital, one in stable condition and the other two in critical condition, Kirkpatrick said.
This piece was updated on Saturday with Kareem Harris’s name.
