New Orleans police charged in post-Katrina shooting
Source: Reuters
By Russell McCulley NEW ORLEANS, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Seven New Orleans police officers were indicted on Thursday on murder and attempted murder charges for a shooting on a New Orleans bridge that came to symbolize the lawless chaos that followed Hurricane Katrina last year. Two people died and four others were wounded in the Sept. 4, 2005 incident that police described as a shootout with snipers but victims charged was a police ambush. "We cannot allow our police officers to shoot and kill our citizens without justification like rabid dogs," New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan said in a statement. "The rules governing lethal force are not suspended in an emergency. Everyone, including police, must abide by the law of the land." Indicted for first-degree murder were officers Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Anthony Villavaso and Robert Faulcon. Three others, Robert Barrios, Michael Hunter and Ignatius Hills, were indicted for attempted murder. New Orleans police said the officers shot at snipers who had been firing at rescue workers near the Danziger Bridge in the eastern part of the city. But victims and families of the dead disagreed with the police version of events and said the attack was not justified. New Orleans police superintendent Warren Riley in a news conference decried Jordan's statement as "highly unprofessional" and said citizens should let the judicial process run its course before drawing conclusions about the guilt or innocence of the indicted officers. "The day these alleged events occurred was one of the darkest and saddest days in New Orleans Police Department and in America's history," he said. "I have my own opinions about these unfortunate circumstances, what happened, why and how, but for now that doesn't matter," Riley said. The bridge incident was widely reported as evidence of the crime and chaos that seized New Orleans after Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005, flooding 80 percent of the city and leaving tens of thousands of people stranded for days. New Orleans police came under scrutiny for failing to stop looting and lawlessness in the streets. About 15 percent of the force did not show up for work and some officers were accused of taking Cadillacs from a local auto dealer.
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