NEW ORLEANS - Some of those who knew two young women who were shot to death in New Orleans last week are calling on the mayor of that city to apologize for remarks she made a short time later.

LaToya Cantrell was speaking to recent incidents of violence when she said: "What I will say is, none of these acts are random at all. We have to understand that women also play a role in violent activity in our city.

"I'm saying that they're not random," she then repeated. "Unfortunately, people are involved in criminal activity in our city and it plays out in the streets of New Orleans, and it is all genders."

Cantrell did also state, "those women matter."

The address to the media hasn't been well received by many in the community, who say Ja'Diamond Jones and Imani Williams bear no blame for the violence that took their lives.

Williams was a student at Southern University and an aspiring nurse. Both of the women were just 20 years old.

They were shot to death outside a hookah bar early Friday morning.

Cantrell's comments have prompted Jones' family to call for an apology.

As of Tuesday afternoon, no arrests had been made.