High school senior identified as person killed in shooting at Lousiana mall

A high school senior has been identified as the person killed in a mass shooting that also wounded five others when two groups exchanged gunfire inside the food court at a mall in Louisiana’s capital city on Thursday afternoon, according to officials.

Martha Odom, 16, died from a gunshot wound to the chest, according to a statement issued Friday by the local coroner’s office.

Martha was one of three high school seniors from Ascension Episcopal school caught in the crossfire at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge. The school on Friday issued a statement saying Martha’s classmates would remember her as “a joyful presence whose kindness and infectious enthusiasm brought light to all who knew her”.

“Ascension Episcopal School carries this cross together,” the statement said. “We are holding one another close with an immense amount of faith and love.”

The statement said at least five of the school’s students were present at the time of the deadly shootout and caught in the crossfire. Louisiana’s the Advocate newspaper reported that those five students were at the mall for an unofficial “skip day” for senior students at Ascension Episcopal as their graduation looms.

Police said five people have been arrested in connection with Thursday’s violence.

Louisiana’s attorney general, Liz Murrill, issued a statement describing herself as a friend of the Odom family and said Martha’s death was a “devastating loss of innocent life”.

“Martha [had] her whole life in front of her,” Murrill’s statement said. “Those responsible for this senseless violence must face the full force of the law.”

There have been at least 122 mass shootings in the US, including Thursday’s at the Mall of Louisiana, reported so far this year as of Friday, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive, a nonpartisan reference resource, defines mass shootings as cases in which four or more victims are wounded or shot.

Gun violence is the US’s leading cause of death for teenagers and younger children, research shows. That fact combined with perennially high rates of mass shootings in the US have prompted calls from many for the federal government to implement more substantial gun control.