TODAY’S NEWS BRIEFING
1: 4 hurt in shooting at Bourbon Street
NEW ORLEANS — Gunfire wounded four people on New Orleans’ famed Bourbon Street as a costumed crowd partied amid the countdown to Mardi Gras, sending people running, police and bystanders said.
Four shots rang out rapidly Saturday night, followed by screams as some in the crowd staggered into one another and a nearby wall, video taken by a bystander and released by police showed. Authorities said in an email Sunday that an argument involving one of the victims led to the shooting. They described the video — released early Sunday — as showing two men leaving the argument and returning with a third before the gunfire erupted.
2: 3 killed in California helicopter crash
LOS ANGELES — Three people were killed in a helicopter crash early Sunday in a rural area of northern Los Angeles County while filming for a reality TV show.
Los Angeles County Fire dispatcher Robert Diaz said the crash occurred about 3:40 a.m. at the Polsa Rosa Ranch in Action. The ranch has been used as a film location.
Philip Sokoloski, a spokesman for FilmL.A., which processes filming per- mits for location shootings in the Los Angeles region, said a production company had been approved to use a helicopter for a reality TV show.
The circumstances surrounding the crash are still unknown, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said.
3: 5 dead in cruise ship lifeboat safety drill
LA PALMA, Canary Islands — A lifeboat from a British-operated cruise ship fell upside down into the sea at port in Spain’s Canary Islands during a safety drill, killing five crew members and injuring three others Sunday, officials said. About 1,400 passengers were on board, but none were involved in the accident.
Thomson Cruises confirmed the incident involving the Thomson Majesty ship on the island of La Palma. Three of the dead were Indonesian men, one was a Filipino man and another was a man from Ghana, authorities said.
4: Several detained in tourist rape case
MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities say they have detained sev- eral people in last week’s rape of six Spanish tourists in the Pacific resort of Acapulco. Officials aren’t saying how many suspects are in custody.
Guerrero state Gov. Angel Aguirre says that in addition to being detained in that case, two of the suspects are being held in connection with another rape.
The Feb. 11 attack on the Spaniards by masked gunmen was the latest incident of violence to tarnish Acapulco’s image, and tourism industry executives are worrying it could hurt business in other Mexican resorts.