1 dead and 5 injured after shooting inside Mall of Louisiana

One person has died and five more were wounded following an active shooter situation at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge, officials said.

The incident is no longer considered an active threat and it appears to have stemmed from a dispute between two groups of people.

“We found out looking through surveillance videos it looks like it was kind of targeted,” a Baton Rouge Police Chief Thomas Morse Jr. told reporters on Thursday afternoon. “Two groups of people got into an argument inside the food court and started shooting at each other.”

Several bystanders appear to have been injured in the chaos, and authorities initially said 10 people were transported to local hospitals with injuries of varying degrees of severity. That number has since been revised to five.

“Our hearts and prayers go out to all the victims involved in this,” Morse said, adding that more updates will follow.

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The Baton Rouge Police Department said in a 5:27 p.m. update that five suspects have been taken into custody and that the incident remains under active investigation.

"To the thugs that did this, we're gonna catch you," City Mayor Sid Edwards said in an afternoon press conference. "The devil lives everywhere. If someone gets in their mind that they're going to do something like this, they're going to do something like this."

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill said in statements that they are monitoring the incident and coordinating with law enforcement.

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Landry said that he and his wife are praying for “those affected and are grateful for a quick response by our law enforcement officials.”

Following the eruption of gunfire in the food court, shoppers and employees were escorted through tunnels and ushered into a holding area, according to WBRZ. Paramedics later arrived at the scene and established a triage center near JCPenney, WAFB reported.

Lindsay Kahn, a spokesperson for the mall, described it as a “frightening day” for everyone there.

As of Wednesday, there have been 144 mass shootings in the United States so far in 2026, according to Mass Shooting Tracker, which defines such incidents as any event in which at least four people are shot.

The U.S. has recorded more public mass shootings than any other country in the world, according to the Rockefeller Institute of Government.