Chaos in the French Quarter near Royal and St. Philip as a man, apparently riding in the back of pedicab, opens fire on two New Orleans Police Officers as they sat in the front seat of seat of their police cruiser.
The shooting took place around 4:30 Friday afternoon.
One officer was shot in the face, the bullet lodging in the officer's skull just below his left eye.
Another officer received abrasions and other injuries. It is not known if this was from flying glass or if he was grazed by bullets
The injured officers were taken to University Medical Center.
At a media conference following the shooting, NOPD Chief Shaun Ferguson commended the citizens who responded to help NOPD officers catch the suspect and assisted in medical treatment to the wounded officer.
“A retired Army veteran with medical experience was working in a nearby store and helped with the medical treatment of our officers until fellow officers arrived at the scene,” Ferguson said. “We want to thank her, as well as citizens who helped to point out the perpetrator to officers responding to this scene.”
The officer who was shot reportedly was awake and talking when he arrived at the hospital. New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson described the officer's condition as "serious but stable."
Two eyewitnesses told WWL-TV, they saw the shooter riding in the back of pedicab as it passed the cruiser: "A young man in the back of the pedicab stood up and fired directly at the police car."
The witness said another officer in the car jumped out, yelling out "Officer down!" They took off after the man down Royal Street.
"This pedicab came by and the guy was sitting in the back of the pedicab and he cocked one of these handguns that has a long clip in it. And he started firing into the cop car," another eyewitness told WWL-TV.
The witness continues, "He took the cop car out entirely, he shot the block, it was done. And he shot the cop in the face. And the cop fell out of the car and he was whimpering and crawling around the car. And then I looked down St. Philip and the shooter was hiding behind a car. I was looking at the shooter and thinking 'wow does he have any ammunition left?"
WWL-TV reports the suspect has also been taken to the hospital.
Chief Ferguson says the suspect was displaying some kind of medical problem when taken into custody and is not communicating with the arresting officers or others.
The wounded officer is undergoing treatment for the gunshot wound.