NOPD headquarters was evacuated for about 90 minutes earlier Thursday night after crime lab techs located two live hand grenades inside of a vehicle seized from one of the suspects in the shooting of five people this morning in New Orleans East. Police shot the driver dead following the incident.
The vehicle was being processed for evidence when the hand grenades were found inside of a safe in the car.
All five floors of the NOPD building were evacuated for about 90 minutes. Because of the hour of the discovery, slightly more than two dozen people were involved -- far fewer than had been in the building earlier in the day.
The NOPD bomb squad deactivated the grenades and officers closed off several streets around NOPD headquarters located at 715 South Broad Street.
At about 9 a.m. Thursday, six people were shot, two fatally, at two different locations, including inside a New Orleans house at the intersection of Devine Avenue and Adele Street.
NOPD chased the suspect's vehicle from near the scene to Chef Highway and Press Drive, when the suspect exited the vehicle and shot at police. That was when he was reportedly shot and killed by one of the officers.
Two people in the vehicle were also shot along with a police officer, but were not killed.
This morning's shootings came on the heels of a bloody evening, where one person was shot near Hollygrove, a middle school in Gentilly was placed on lockdown so four suspects could be located, and four people, including a 12-year-old, were shot in St. Roch.
We're not even halfway through January and it has already been an extremely bloody 2012. Prayers go up for the city and our state.
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