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On Friday, just six days after former New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith*was shot to death in the Lower Garden District, the city?s residents took to the streets to mourn and celebrate him the best way they knew how.

Brass bands, Mardi Gras Indians, members of various Baby Doll groups and hundreds of the late football player?s fans joined anti-gun violence groups for a two-hour, three-mile second line led by local musician James Andrews, as participants and onlookers danced and sang their sorrows away.

Twice the band played ?When The Saints Go Marching In? ? once as the second line poured into Canal Street, shutting down traffic on half of the busy boulevard, and again as marchers pulled up to the final stopping point, Treme's Ooh Poo Pah Doo Bar. Both times marchers could be seen wiping away tears as they sang along.

?To make myself feel better, I came here today,? said 65-year-old Dora Jackson, as she watched the second line with 21-month-old Dor?Ian, her great-grandson.?