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The elderly woman killed in a deadly triple shooting outside a New Orleans high school graduation on Tuesday (May 31) has been identified as the grandmother of one of the graduates.
Augustine Greenwood, 80, had just attended Morris Jeff High School's graduation at Xavier University to see her grandson walk across the stage when a fight between two women broke out in the parking lot. The argument escalated quickly and guns were drawn with shots ringing out and striking three people. Greenwood was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, while the two other victims, both male, were transported for non-life threatening injuries.
Greenwood's family spoke to the Times Picayune | NOLA.com, telling the outlet that the 80-year-old was a sweet and loving person, a mother of six and grandmother of 15, per WWL-TV. Her daughter also shared an emotional message on social media condemning the shooting and grieving her mother.
"Please people stop the violence!! A message to the young ladies that started all of this: Today you took my world away from me and my family, all you had to do was walk away," she said. "It was graduation for my son, my mom was so happy to see her youngest grandchild graduate. You have ruined my son and families world, all you had to do was walk away."
This is the second shooting at a New Orleans graduation this month, after multiple people were shot on Southeastern Louisiana's campus on May 19 following the commencement ceremony for Hammond High School. The incident also came one week after the tragic mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two adults.