Celebrating Mardi Gras in Mamou has been a tradition for as long as I can remember. However, that tradition may have ended lasted Tuesday afternoon with the shooting that left two people dead and upwards to nine or ten people also injured in the shooting. Some were hurt by gunshots while others were hurt from scrambling to get away from the gunshots. There were three other people hurt in a shooting on the night before.
Back in the day, teenagers and adults used to settle differences in a much different fashion than today. Today, if you are mad at someone, they grab a gun and start shooting. Most of the gun battles now involve teenagers who are mostly juveniles. So the first question I have with the teenagers is how do you get your hands on a pistol that is equipped with a device to make it like a machine that can fire hundreds of rounds in a minute.
The video, that everyone has seen by now, showed people having a good time, listening to great music and enjoying time with their families. One second everything is good, the next second two people are dead and multiple others are hurt. Why, apparently because a couple of people couldn’t settle their differences.
There can never be enough security at these events and last week was no exception. There is a catch-22 when it comes to Mamou Police in providing security. First, the Mardi Gras Festival keeps growing year after year. It’s good for businesses that depend on the revenue for the year but it causes headaches for the police. They’re simply overwhelmed by the amount of security needed to cover such an event. The Town Council can’t afford to pay for more security. Even if they could, Mamou couldn’t find the properly trained officers to work with Mamou Police.
On the other side, businesses want the party goers to walk up and down Sixth Street between the two stages and visit their businesses during the festival.
When the right answer is discovered, some group will be unhappy.
Second, the people involved in the shooting just didn’t get out of cars and start shooting. They hid their weapons until they reached their intended target, pulled out the gun and started shooting. So even the right security may not have prevented the bloodshed. When listening to the video, the fully automatic weapon fired numerous shots in less than five seconds, if not quicker. Did the person shooting know how to handle a fully automatic weapon? Probably not but the damage was already done.
Mamou Police and Mamou Council are not fully to blame, that belongs to the shooter.
The council meeting in February gave us an early warning what the police and council had concerns about in securing the area. It wasn’t the first time the issue had come up. Over the years it had been discussed several times. Police Chief Pat Hall asked for one stage area not two because of security concerns. Would one stage have helped? Who knows but now the council and police must figure out what to do in the future, starting with next year.
Lives were lost last week and families had to bury loved ones and help others to recover. The family pain may ease over time but will never be forgotten. It was a senseless and uncalled for tragedy. Everyone from the shooter to the Mamou community must live with the consequences.
Mamou will slowly recover over time but it may be at the expense of the Mardi Gras Festival or at least the street dances. It’s understandable if something happens but it will be a loss of a great tradition the has carried Mamou for decades.
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