Fatal shoot-out at US gun store

A PERSON entered a gun store and shooting range in a suburb of New Orleans, Louisiana, and fatally shot two people on Saturday, prompting customers and staff to open fire on the gunman, a sheriff said.

The incident happened around 2.50 pm at the Jefferson Gun Outlet in the suburb of Metairie, according to a release from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said the gunman initially struck two people inside, and then several other people – whether employees or store customers – opened fire on the gunman, both inside and outside of the building. The gunman also died.

Outside the building, a man could be seen afterwards behind yellow police tape yelling: “Where is my son?”

Guns and ammunition are sold in the front of the outlet that faces a main thoroughfare through Jefferson Parish.

Customers who want to frequent the gun range generally go around to the side entrance of the building. Staff who work there often wear a sidearm.

Mr Lopinto said two other people were also hit by gunfire and were hospitalised in a stable condition. “We’re trying to put it all together,” the sheriff said during a short briefing with journalists. Details of the dead and wounded remain unclear.