A 17-year-old lady, Martha Odom, has been recognized because the sufferer killed in a taking pictures on the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge, officers stated Friday, and a 17-year-old suspect is in custody.
5 others had been wounded when gunfire broke out throughout a combat between two teams within the meals courtroom on Thursday afternoon, police stated.
One of many injured, a 43-year-old man, stays within the hospital in crucial situation, Baton Rouge Police Chief T.J. Morse stated.
Baton Rouge police and Sheriff deputies reply to a mass taking pictures on the Mall of Louisiana, April 23, 2026, in Baton Rouge, La.
Matthew Hinton/AP
Lafayette’s Ascension Episcopal Faculty described Odom, a senior on the college, as a “joyful presence whose kindness and infectious enthusiasm introduced gentle to all who knew her.”
The college stated two college students had been wounded and two others had been witnesses.
Baton Rouge police and Sheriff deputies reply to a mass taking pictures on the Mall of Louisiana, April 23, 2026, in Baton Rouge, La.
Matthew Hinton/AP
One suspect within the taking pictures, 17-year-old Markel Lee, turned himself in on Friday and faces prices together with first-degree homicide and a number of counts of tried homicide, Morse stated at a information convention.
Morse stated police are asking for the general public’s assist to discover a second suspect needed in reference to the taking pictures.
The 5 individuals detained on Thursday have been launched pending additional investigation, Morse stated.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry known as the taking pictures a “deeply troubling act of violence” that seems to have been pushed by “neighborhood gang disputes that appear to wish to spill out in our public locations, placing harmless individuals in peril and taking the lifetime of an harmless younger girl.”
“This conduct just isn’t going to be tolerated on this state,” he stated on the information convention.
Authorities reply to a taking pictures on the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge, April 23, 2026.
WBRZ
Authorities reply to a taking pictures on the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge, April 23, 2026.
WBRZ
An worker on the mall on the time of the taking pictures told ABC Baton Rouge affiliate WBRZ, “I heard a loud ‘pop’ after which one other ‘pop.’ … I flip round and I see individuals dropping to the ground after which I noticed the gun. … And he was turning round, taking pictures randomly.”
“I known as safety and stated, ‘Photographs fired within the meals courtroom, persons are down, persons are hit.’ After which the cops got here and it was simply whole chaos … blood was in all places,” she stated.
“I’ve by no means seen something like this in my life,” she stated.
The Mall of Louisiana is closed on Friday “out of respect for the victims.”
“Our deepest sympathies are with everybody who was impacted by the mindless act of violence that came about right here right now,” the mall stated in an announcement.
