Two groups opened fire on each other inside the Mall of Louisiana’s food court on April 23, 2026, leaving one person dead and five others wounded in what authorities described as a targeted confrontation that trapped innocent bystanders in the crossfire.
The violence erupted at 1:22 p.m. at the Baton Rouge shopping center, Louisiana’s largest mall. According to Baton Rouge Police Chief Thomas “T.J.” Morse Jr., surveillance footage captured the incident beginning as a verbal clash that turned deadly within seconds.
“Two groups of people got into an argument inside the food court and started shooting at each other,” Morse said. “Unfortunately, there were some innocent people who were in the area that might have also caught some rounds.”
“We are heartbroken by the senseless violence that happened today at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge,” Boulet wrote, asking the community to “join us in holding all of these families close in prayer.”
The deceased was identified as Martha Odom, a 17-year-old senior at Ascension Episcopal School in Lafayette. She suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. She was at the mall on senior skip day with friends, just three weeks before graduation.
Five people were wounded in the shooting, including two of Odom’s Ascension Episcopal classmates. Donnie Guillory, a 43-year-old Special Olympics of Louisiana athlete, was hospitalized in critical condition and underwent surgery. By April 26, Mayor-President Sid Edwards said Guillory’s condition was improving.
By the evening of April 23, one victim remained in critical condition while four others suffered minor injuries, officials said, revising an initial estimate that 10 people had been hurt.
The lunchtime shooting triggered a chaotic scene of screaming shoppers, cowering store clerks, and a heavy law enforcement response that drew the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to the scene. A Baton Rouge Police officer assigned to the mall and a sheriff’s deputy in the parking lot rushed toward the gunfire as it broke out.
Inside the mall, the first sign of danger came in the form of sudden, sharp cracks and the sound of glass breaking. Alex Theriot, a commercial electrician working on a construction project a few hundred feet from the food court, thought a gunman might be moving store to store. He quickly screwed the door shut at his work site and hunkered down with two other workers.
“Everybody was running and screaming,” Theriot told The Associated Press. “I thought it could have been a terrorist attack.”
Desire Batton, who works at a clothing store, fled with coworkers into a breakroom. “We hid in there until cops came and got us,” she said.
Kennedy Barnum, 22, had walked in to get lunch when she overheard a woman outside on a cellphone saying, “I’ll call you back. There’s an active shooter in the mall.” Signi Dreyer, a carousel operator at the mall, was among those who scrambled to safety.
By late afternoon on April 23, dozens of police cruisers were clustered in the parking lot. Helicopters hovered overhead. Officers in bulletproof vests patrolled the grounds. The mall reopened on April 25 with enhanced security, including additional guards and an increased on-site presence of Baton Rouge Police Department officers.
Four suspects were temporarily detained on the evening of April 24 after the shooting, but later released. A 17-year-old suspect named Markel Lee turned himself in on April 24, 2026, and was charged with first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of illegal use of a firearm.
Surveillance footage played a key role in the arrest. Investigators said one camera angle clearly showed Lee holding what appeared to be a semiautomatic pistol in his right hand, and detectives later confirmed his identity after showing a screenshot to his grandmother. Officials described Lee as having an extensive criminal history, prompting Gov. Jeff Landry to publicly criticize judicial leniency toward repeat offenders and push for state legislation that would allow lawmakers to remove judges for malfeasance or incompetence.
He had his first court appearance on April 27, before Judge Kory Tauzin, who ordered him held without bond on the murder charge, with bond set at $1.25 million across the five attempted murder counts and $100,000 for illegal use of a weapon. Lee’s next court date is scheduled for Aug. 20. Police have identified a second individual wanted for questioning but have not arrested them as of late April.
According to officials briefed on the investigation, there is no known continuing threat to the public. Morse described the incident as a “very targeted kind of disagreement” and pledged to track down anyone else connected to the shooting.
Investigators were continuing to collect surveillance footage and appealing for witnesses to share any video they recorded. Federal agents joined the investigation at the scene and were assisting local police with ballistics and forensic work expected to stretch into the weekend.
The shooting lands in a state still raw from another tragedy earlier in the week. On Sunday morning in a Shreveport neighborhood, a father fatally shot eight children, seven of his own and one nephew, in a mass shooting that shook Louisiana. Two women, including the gunman’s wife, were critically wounded.
Gov. Jeff Landry, Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sid Edwards, and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill all responded to Thursday’s bloodshed, which compounds a week of grief across the state. The quick succession of violent incidents has rattled public officials grappling with how to respond.
On the evening of April 27, community members gathered outside the mall’s Main Event entrance for a candlelight vigil hosted by Mayor-President Edwards, State Rep. C. Denise Marcelle, and community activist Cathy Toliver. State Rep. Annie Spell read an excerpt from an essay Martha Odom had written for her theology class, reflecting on grief and comfort.
For shoppers who fled with their hands over their heads, and for the families now waiting on word from hospitals, the afternoon stood as another stark marker in a week Louisiana will not soon forget.
