Three people were wounded Tuesday night (Jan. 27) in what neighbors in the area called a gun battle along North Roman Street in the Upper 9th Ward.

New Orleans police offered scant details about the shooting. The department's initial report said two male victims were found around 6:40 p.m. in the 1900 block of Gallier Street. About 40 minutes later, police confirmed a third male victim had been transported by EMS to an area hospital. One of the victims appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder, neighbors in the area said.

A contingent of NOPD officers and Orleans Parish Sheriff's deputies cordoned off Roman Street between Gallier and Desire streets, while NOPD Crime Lab technicians distributed upwards of 60 markers on evidence strewn along the block: a handgun, two sandals, maybe 10 feet apart and facing in opposite directions, and at least 15 red shotgun shell casings that residents in the area said were left over from New Year's Eve celebrations.

Witnesses reported seeing two men standing outside talking when a third man showed up and opened fire, sending the pair scattering. The gunman chased one of the men on Roman toward Gallier, said one of the witnesses, who did not want his name used.

The gunman shot the man he was chasing, the witness said, and then stood over his man, firing off about six rounds before "pistol-whipping" him. The other man who had been in the conversation prior to the shooting appeared with his own gun, witnesses said, and opened fire on the gunman.

A woman who lives near the shooting scene said she heard several bursts of gunfire, maybe 20 shots in all.

"It was a whole lot of shooting," she said from her front porch. "They were really trying to kill each other."