U.S. and IAEA officials say they believe North Korea procured the P-2-style centrifuge designs from A.Q Khan following a barter trade conducted in the 1990s.
The spectacular scene unfolded about 7 p.m. on thenorth section of the four-lane Interstate 5 bridge near Mount Vernon, about 60 miles north of Seattle and 40 miles south of the Canada border.
"One has to assume that Iran either has the P-2 centrifuge from North Korea, or could get it very easily, " said Simon Henderson, a proliferation expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The shots, fired from multiple guns, started just before 2 p.m. in the Seventh Ward, north of the French Quarter, said Garry Flot, a public-information officer with the New Orleans Police Department.