Akein Scott, a 19-year-old man with reputed gang ties was in custody Thursday in the New Orleans Mother's Day parade shooting that left 19 people wounded, news reports said. Scott was arrested Wednesday night in eastern New Orleans' Little Woods section after a three-day manhunt, police spokesman Garry Flot said.
More details are available at a later time. Authorities did not say if a weapon was found.
Law-enforcement agents from a U.S. Marshals Service task force worked with New Orleans police special operations to take Scott into custody, WDSU-TV, New Orleans, reported. The Crime Stoppers reward leading to Scott's arrest was increased to #10,000.
Scott reportedly opened fire into a crowd as the annual Mother's Day "second line" parade passed an intersection, police said. Second line is a New Orleans brass band parade tradition, where people not in the official parade, or "first line," follow the official band just to enjoy the music.
Scott fired and injured ten men, seven women, and two children. Three people remained hospitalized in stable to critical condition early Thursday. The other victims were treated and released, officials said.
Scott was out of jail on a $15,000 bail, and police said he had gang ties and previous arrests for illegal weapons possession and drug charges. He was scheduled for a court hearing Thursday in relation to a felony charge of illegally carrying a weapon while in possession of heroin. It was not clear if he would still have that hearing.
A surveillance video identified Scott on Monday, which led to the manhunt.
The video shows a crowd at the parade suddenly running chaotically in all directions.
The Seventh Ward neighborhood where the shooting occurred suffers from high gun-crime levels.
During a Martin Luther King Day Parade in January, a shooting wounded five people. In February, a Mardi Gras shooting injured four, according to UPI.com
