Five people were taken into custody following a deadly exchange of gunfire at the Mall of Louisiana on Thursday afternoon that left one person dead and five others wounded, Baton Rouge Police Chief Thomas “T.J.” Morse Jr. said.
Two groups of people clashed in a verbal confrontation inside the food court around 1:22 p.m. on April 23, 2026, before opening fire on each other amid the lunchtime crowd at Louisiana’s largest shopping center, according to Morse. The violence sent shoppers and employees running for safety as bullets struck bystanders caught in the crossfire.
“Two groups of people got into an argument inside the food court and started shooting at each other,” Morse said. “Unfortunately, there were some innocent people who were in the area that might have also caught some rounds.”
Among those hit were three high school seniors from Ascension Episcopal School, a PK3-through-12 school in Lafayette, according to Lafayette Mayor-President Monique Blanco Boulet, who announced the news in a Facebook post.
“We are heartbroken by the senseless violence that happened today at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge,” Boulet wrote, asking the community to “join us in holding all of these families close in prayer.”
Rachel Delcambre, a spokesperson for the school, declined to release further information, citing “deep respect for the families and the sensitivity of this situation.”
Morse, citing surveillance footage, said the violence began as a verbal clash that escalated within seconds. According to officials briefed on the investigation, there is no known continuing threat to the public. Morse described the incident as a “very targeted kind of disagreement” and pledged to track down anyone else connected to the shooting.
Four victims suffered minor injuries, while one victim remained in critical condition Thursday evening, officials said, revising an initial estimate that 10 people had been hurt. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said some innocent bystanders were struck by the gunfire.
“This is still an ongoing investigation, and we’re still looking for more people who may be involved,” Morse said.
A Baton Rouge Police officer assigned to the mall and a sheriff’s deputy in the parking lot rushed toward the gunfire as it broke out, according to police accounts. Detectives are still piecing together how many weapons were fired and how many shooters were involved. No formal arrests had been announced as authorities interviewed the five in custody to determine their roles.
The shooting triggered a chaotic scene of screaming shoppers and cowering store clerks, drawing a heavy law enforcement response that included the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Desire Batton, who works at a clothing store, fled with coworkers into a breakroom. “We hid in there until cops came and got us,” she said.
Alex Theriot, a commercial electrician working on a construction project a few hundred feet from the food court, thought a gunman might be moving store to store. He quickly screwed shut the door of his work site and hunkered down with two other workers.
“Everybody was running and screaming,” Theriot told The Associated Press. “I thought it could have been a terrorist attack.”
Inside the mall, the first sign of danger came in the form of sudden, sharp cracks and the sound of glass breaking. Kennedy Barnum, 22, had walked in to grab lunch when she overheard a woman outside on a cellphone saying, “I’ll call you back. There’s an active shooter in the mall.” Signi Dreyer, a carousel operator at the mall, was among those who scrambled to safety.
By late afternoon, dozens of police cruisers were clustered in the parking lot. Helicopters hovered overhead. Officers in bulletproof vests patrolled the grounds. Mall spokesperson Lindsay Kahn called it a “frightening day” and confirmed the mall would not reopen Thursday.
Federal agents joined the investigation at the scene and were assisting local police with ballistics and forensic work expected to stretch into the weekend. Investigators were continuing to collect surveillance footage and appealing for witnesses to share any video they recorded. Morse said police would not identify any of the victims until relatives were notified.
Thursday’s bloodshed compounds a week of grief across Louisiana. On Sunday morning in a Shreveport neighborhood, a father fatally shot eight children — seven of his own and one nephew — in a mass shooting that shook Louisiana. Two women, including the gunman’s wife, were critically wounded.
Gov. Jeff Landry, Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sid Edwards, and Murrill all responded to the shooting. The quick succession of violent incidents has rattled public officials grappling with how to respond.
For shoppers who fled with their hands over their heads, and for the families now waiting on word from hospitals, the afternoon stood as another stark marker in a week Louisiana will not soon forget.