In his second shooting spree of the week, Mark Essex fatally shoots seven people and wounds five others at Howard Johnson's Hotel in New Orleans, before being shot to death by police officers.

Mark James Robert Essex was an American serial sniper and black nationalist known as the "New Orleans Sniper" who killed a total of nine people, including five police officers, and wounded twelve others, in two separate attacks in New Orleans on December 31, 1972, and January 7, 1973. Essex was killed by police in the second armed confrontation.

Howard Johnson by Wyndham, still commonly referred to as Howard Johnson's, is an American hotel brand with just under 300 hotels in 15 countries. It was also formerly a restaurant chain, which at one time was the largest in the U.S., with more than 1,000 locations. Since 2006, all hotels and company trademarks, including those of the defunct restaurant chain, have been owned by Wyndham Hotels and Resorts.

New Orleans is a consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 census, New Orleans is the most populous city in Louisiana, the second-most populous in the Deep South after Atlanta, and the twelfth-most populous in the Southeastern United States; the New Orleans metropolitan area with about 1 million residents is the 59th-most populous metropolitan area in the nation. New Orleans serves as a major port and commercial hub for the broader Gulf Coast region. The city is coextensive with Orleans Parish.

January 7 is the seventh day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 358 days remain until the end of the year.