The looter katrina8/14/2023 The officer who burned the body was the only one who stood convicted when the case was over. In an unrelated post-Katrina case, five other officers were tried on charges related to the death of 31-year-old Henry Glover, who was fatally shot outside a strip mall before his body was burned. In addition to the Bourgeois matter, other cases arising from post-Katrina violence included the deadly shooting by police officers of unarmed civilians at the Danziger bridge in the days after the storm - a case that led to eventual guilty pleas from several officers during a long and complicated court case. That agreement said his prison sentence would be at least five years and at most 10 years. Marshals recovered 10 rifles and seven handguns from the residence where he was living.Ī trial was avoided last October when Bourgeois pleaded guilty to “interference with rights” and “use of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence,” according to a plea agreement. Documents show that, at the time he was arrested for violating conditions of his release, U.S. “This was a premeditated attempt to kill,” Hahn said.īourgeois was freed on bond at one point after his indictment but was jailed in August 2017 for a bond violation. She also noted evidence of Bourgeois’ hate-filled statements and his waving around of a bloody cap belonging to one of the victims as though it were a trophy. The men who were shot - including one who was seriously wounded - were headed for a ferry, hoping to evacuate the city, not looters. She said even trained police officers mistakenly believed that martial law was in effect and that they had license to shoot at will at suspected looters.įederal prosecutor Mary Hahn dismissed that characterization of the circumstances. And she said the confusion and fear that was rampant in the city contributed to his behavior. And, his original indictment said, he told one African-American neighborhood resident: “Anything coming up this street darker than a brown paper bag is getting shot.”ĭefense attorney Valerie Welz Jusselin argued for a sentence of five years in court Thursday. Before and after the shooting, his conversations were punctuated with racial epithets. Prosecutors said that he and others had discussed shooting black people and defending the Algiers Point neighborhood of New Orleans from “outsiders” after the storm. Power was out, levee failures had flooded most of New Orleans and emergency resources were strained.īourgeois fired a shotgun at three black men who were trying to evacuate the area, wounding one seriously. The shooting happened roughly three days after Katrina hit the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |