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The after party that followed the Nine Times Social Aide & Pleasure Club’s annual second line was in full swing at Bunny Friend Park when gunfire erupted within a crowd of hundreds of revelers, several witnesses recounted Sunday.

Music from a DJ was playing. As many as 300 people were wandering throughout the Upper 9th Ward park when the shots rang through the air. One witness, a nurse who would not give her name, said it sounded like New Year’s Eve, when celebratory gunfire often occurs, all over again

People scattered everywhere. Three witnesses said they saw a man with a silver-colored machine gun head toward Louisa Avenue. They also heard more gunshots coming from within the crowd as he ran away.

New Orleans police officers had been monitoring the second line, but witnesses say they were beginning to disperse as the after party kept going. As soon as gunshots were heard, however, officers were on the scene immediately, witnesses said.

Several victims were lying on the sidewalk along Gallier Street sidewalk after the chaos died down a bit.

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Mayor Mitch Landrieu has arrived at the scene.