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Several downtown businesses damaged in gun battle over the weekend

1 year 2 months 4 weeks ago Tuesday, September 12 2023 Sep 12, 2023 September 12, 2023 6:20 PM September 12, 2023 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - A gun battle downtown early Sunday morning left a trail of destruction from Florida Street onto Lafayette Street.

"You had some folks Sunday night about 2:30 in the morning that decided to shoot the whole block up," said business owner Jennice Goff.

According to the Baton Rouge Police Department, no one was injured, but several businesses, including the Hilton Hotel had windows shot out.

Goff's restaurant has not even opened yet, but was hit and still has a bullet in the door. Despite the multiple holes in her business, she says she typically feels safe downtown.

"During the day time it's safe. We come out here, we leave the door open while we're working and people are friendly and they all stop and they talk and they encourage you to keep going. The night time--we get a lot of rowdies. We just go home. We avoid that part."

This year, there have been at least three shootings in the same part of downtown--two of them with victims, and one of them deadly. BRPD says they are aware of the trend.

"We know there's an element of young kids and young adults that are hanging in the downtown area on the weekends. We've increased patrols down in that particular area because we know that people are walking the levee and the area by the river center and when they're down there, we notice there are potential altercations that have occurred," said Sgt. L'Jean McKneely.

However, BRPD maintains they believe the area is safe and Goff says this won't deter her from earning a living.

"I'm determined. It's just glass. I can replace glass."

So far no arrests have been made.

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