Investigators did not know whether the incident was domestic violence or a home invasion, said a police spokeswoman. The victim was said to be in her early 20s. Her house in the Uptown section of New Orleans had been ransacked but police did not know if anything had been taken.

Seven people have been shot to death since New Year's Day in New Orleans.

Five of the shootings, all unrelated, occurred within 14 hours on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Also, a body with signs of physical trauma was found on Wednesday wrapped in a rug. That death has not been classified but could bring the total for the year to eight.

The spate of killings dashed hope that the city's police chief offered on New Year's Day when he said he believed the violence that has plagued the city for several months was under control.

One of Thursday's victims was independent film-maker Helen Hill; her husband, Dr Paul Gailiunas, a physician who treats the city's poor, was injured.

Assistant superintendent Steven Nicholas described the killings as brazen acts, often done in broad daylight and, in one case, within a block of police officers.