2 dead, 2 wounded after getting shot while working on New Orleans church project, police say

A suspect is under arrest in connection to a shooting at a New Orleans church that left two men dead and two others wounded, police said.

Just before 1:30 p.m. Oct. 6, the four victims were working on a drainage project at the church as part of a Healthy Community Services youth training program when a pickup truck with as many as four men inside pulled up and dozens of shots were fired, witnesses told WWL-TV.

The four adult victims were rushed to a local hospital where two were later pronounced dead.

“These were young working Black men against all the odds that we hear about Black men in our community,” Healthy Community Services Executive Director Angela Chalk said of the victims from the program she leads.

On Oct. 13, one week after the double homicide, the New Orleans Police Department and U.S. Marshalls Service arrested 22-year-old Nairobi K. Davis. He now faces two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder.

Davis is being held without bond at the Orelans Parish Prison, online records show.

Officials have not revealed how they determined Davis to be a suspect in the shootings or if they are currently pursuing other suspected gunmen.

“To have a homicide occur at a church... if a church ground is not safe, what is?" NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said of the incident.