NEW ORLEANS — An Indiana firefighter sprung into action in the face of tragedy Sunday when a gunman started shooting at a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans.
Terre Haute firefighter Justin Tallman was watching the Bacchus Parade while vacationing in New Orleans with friends. As he watched the parade, he heard gunfire ring out nearby.
In a Facebook post, the Terre Haute Fire Department said Tallman "immediately sprang from his seat and met terrified and injured victims in the street."
He found a 22-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to the leg. He and a paramedic he had met while on vacation applied a tourniquet above the wound "possibly saving her life," the Facebook post said.
They stayed with the woman until medics arrived.
She was one of four people, including a 4-year-old child, who were injured in the shooting. A fifth person died from their injuries.
An eyewitness told WWL-TV that at least a dozen shots were fired and that people were falling all over themselves trying to get out of the way, leaving everything they had behind them. He said prior to the shooting, there was a set of skirmishes in the same area that officers broke up.
"Everyone ran. Everyone took cover. My whole family ducked. I kind of just hovered over my family, like the small children," Andrew Crawford said.
The police department said they took a 21-year-old man named Mansour Mbodj into custody shortly after the incident.
Monday afternoon the police were able to secure a second-degree murder warrant for Mbodj.
They are not certain that he was the sole shooter on the parade route. They said two guns were recovered from the scene. The shooting remains under investigation.