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As New Orleanians and football fans around the country still reel from the shooting death of Saints defensive end Will Smith, Mayor Mitch Landrieu made an emotional plea to residents to help curb a local murder problem that he said has become ?baked in? to the city?s culture.

?We are a city, we are a country that is drunk on violence,? Landrieu told a packed audience at a Tulane University auditorium for his address on violence in New Orleans. ?And we need to wake up to this fact.?

Landrieu?s address was given two weeks after Smith was gunned in a car near his wife after being involved in a minor car accident, police said.

The incident prompted widespread reaction from city residents, antiviolence groups and fans near and far.?