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BATON ROUGE, La. – Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards issued the following statement about a shooting on the campus of Xavier University outside the graduation ceremonies for Morris Jeff High School. One person died and two others were injured, according to police. On May 19, a shooting on the campus of Southeastern Louisiana University injured four people outside of the Hammond High Magnet graduation.

Gov. Edwards said:

“For the second time this graduation season in Louisiana, gun violence has marred what should be an exciting day of celebration for high school graduates, their families and teachers. I hope all Louisianans will join me in prayer for the victims of these pointless acts of violence.

“Those who perpetuate these senseless acts of violence will be brought to justice. We must do more to keep our communities safe, and this means we must do more to ensure that those who pose an unacceptable risk of harm to others aren’t able to acquire or keep firearms.

“In light of recent gun violence in Buffalo and Uvalde, gun safety discussions and action involving expanded background checks and red flag laws are very much in order.”