I remember going out to a parade with Jason King last time I was in New Orleans and seeing this great big gang of kids walking along following some teenagers. They were terrorizing people in cars. Beating on people's windows and screaming at them while not letting them drive on. Jason wanted to go kick their asses, but I think I talked him out of it. Anyway, the same type of gang was walking along the Muses parade yesterday and they ended up shooting 4 people in a scuffle and killing one woman. If this is a growing trend, Mardi Gras will soon come to an end. One reason is that no one will want to go out to the parades, but more importantly the parade Krewe's will get sued (because that's where the money is at) and then they'll just quit when it becomes too financially draining. The police were there in no time and arrested 4 teenagers with guns: Ages 19,17,17,15. They have told me at the bars I've been frequenting lately that just about everytime they get robbed, it's by a kid with a gun.
Another thing that scares me about Mardi Gras is that crowd on Bourbon street. It is so jammed packed with people that if there was a fire or someone caused a panic by shooting off a gun then the death toll would be catastrophic. Also it scares me that all those unsuspecting drunken tourists who wander away from the French Quarter, away from the river, across St. Claude, have no idea what they are walking into.
