GUILTY LA - Shooting on Danziger Bridge, 2 dead, 4 hurt, New Orleans, 4 Sept 2005

[porkchop]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168112,00.html

Fights and trash fires broke out at the hot and stinking Superdome and anger and unrest mounted across New Orleans (search) as the first of nearly 25,000 refugees being sheltered at the Superdome began to arrive in Houston, Texas. Thousands of people rushed from nearby hotels and other buildings, hoping to climb onto the buses taking evacuees from the arena.

About 15,000 to 20,000 people who had taken shelter at the convention center to await buses grew increasingly hostile. Police Chief Eddie Compass said he sent in 88 officers to quell the situation at the building, but they were quickly beaten back by an angry mob.A military heliocpter tried to land at the convention center several times to drop off food and water. But the rushing crowd forced the choppers to back off. Troopers then tossed the supplies to the crowd from 10 feet off the ground and flew away.
One ambulance official overseeing the airlift rescue operations said a gunshot was fired at a military helicopter over the Superdome before daybreak."We have suspended operations until they gain control of the Superdome," said Richard Zeuschlag, head of Acadian Ambulance, which was handling the evacuation of sick and injured people from the building.
But across New Orleans, the rescuers themselves came under attack from storm victims hungry, desperate and tired of waiting.
"Hospitals are trying to evacuate," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesan, spokesman at the city emergency operations center. "At every one of them, there are reports that as the helicopters come in people are shooting at them. There are people just taking potshots at police and at helicopters, telling them, 'You better come get my family.'"

Nagin ordered virtually the entire police force to abandon search-and-rescue efforts and stop thieves who were becoming increasingly hostile.
Volunteers with boats hoping to help rescue those still stranded on rooftops in New Orleans were told to stand down by the Federal Emergency Management Agency after shots were fired.


Some FEMA rescue operations were suspended where gunfire has broken out, Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said in Washington. "In areas where our employees have been determined to potentially be in danger, we have pulled back," he said.
Looters used garbage cans and inflatable mattresses to float away with food, clothes, TV sets — even guns. Outside one pharmacy, thieves commandeered a forklift and used it to push up the storm shutters and break through the glass. The driver of a nursing-home bus surrendered the vehicle to thugs after being threatened.


***This article gives a lot of people's account of shots fired and violence.
Surely they are not all fibbing.

There are people just taking potshots at police and at helicopters, telling them, 'You better come get my family.'"

That sounds more like people firing in the air to get the attention of rescue workers and the workers thinking people are firing at them. What sense does it make to shoot at somebody and then yell at them to come rescue you?

And I have never heard one report from the military saying that they were fired at.

I'm not saying there wasn't any violence but the reports of people shooting at rescue workers sounds more like people mistaking people fire in the air to draw attention to themselves for being shot at and the media running with the story and exaggerating it.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

That sounds more like people firing in the air to get the attention of rescue workers and the workers thinking people are firing at them. What sense does it make to shoot at somebody and then yell at them to come rescue you?

And I have never heard one report from the military saying that they were fired at.

I'm not saying there wasn't any violence but the reports of people shooting at rescue workers sounds more like people mistaking people fire in the air to draw attention to themselves for being shot at and the media running with the story and exaggerating it.

If you were flying the copters, would you know if they were firing in the air or at you? Would you just keep on flying in not knowing where the shots were coming from or where they were aimed?


That's why rescue was haulted for a while. Shots were fired.


WE don't know if they were shot in the air to get attention or at the rescue workers. They didn't/don't either.

Fact is, shots were fired. Rescue was haulted because of the shots fired.

ETA: Can't change history. It happened.

 

[porkchop]

If you were flying the copters, would you know if they were firing in the air or at you? Would you just keep on flying in not knowing where the shots were coming from or where they were aimed?


That's why rescue was haulted for a while. Shots were fired.


WE don't know if they were shot in the air to get attention or at the rescue workers. They didn't/don't either.

Fact is, shots were fired. Rescue was haulted because of the shots fired.

ETA: Can't change history. It happened.

The whole point is that the media reported that people were shooting at rescue workers. So the story that spread, even what you were saying, is that people were shooting at rescue workers, which wasn't true. And once this story spread that people were shooting at rescue workers people used that to paint the Katrina survivors as animals. But even though rescue workers weren't fired at, which the officials in the Frontline story emphasized, but shots were fired to get the attention of rescue workers people will still hang on to the story of people shooting at rescue workers to try to demonize the Katrina survivors.

 

[SunnieRN]

Oh my, I am so sorry for your friend. I hope she can deal with this in some way.
Tell her there are people out there sending her good thoughts.

Thank you, I will most certainly give her your message!! ***hugs***

 

[Kimberlyd125]

The whole point is that the media reported that people were shooting at rescue workers. So the story that spread, even what you were saying, is that people were shooting at rescue workers, which wasn't true. And once this story spread that people were shooting at rescue workers people used that to paint the Katrina survivors as animals. But even though rescue workers weren't fired at, which the officials in the Frontline story emphasized, but shots were fired to get the attention of rescue workers people will still hang on to the story of people shooting at rescue workers to try to demonize the Katrina survivors.

How do you know it wasn't true?

 

[Trident]

I saw enough on live TV to know that many of the Katrina survivors were animals.

 

[porkchop]

How do you know it wasn't true?

How do I know? Because police and city officials have come out since Katrina and have said that rescue workers weren't being shot at. The military did not report any of their helicopters or personnel being shot or shot at. And to my knowledge there hasn't been any reports of any rescue workers being wounded by gunfire. Surely with all of these shots that were allegedly being fired at rescue workers one of them had to have gotten hit, wouldn't you say so?

So all of that leads me to believe that reports of rescue workers being shot at were nothing more than the media exaggerating reports of people trying to attract attention by firing shots and other people running with it to further their own agenda.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

They said there was no evidence.

That just means there were no holes in the helicopter.

That does not mean they were not shot at or that shots were not fired into the air near them.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

So you think the rescue workers with Acadian Ambulance (owner of the helicopters that were trying to rescue the sick) are not telling the truth.

Are you saying they did not hear shots fired?

 

[porkchop]

So you think the rescue workers with Acadian Ambulance (owner of the helicopters that were trying to rescue the sick) are not telling the truth.

Are you saying they did not hear shots fired?

No I never said people weren't firing shots. I said over and over again people were probably firing shots in the air to get the attention of rescue workers. I also said that rescue workers may have mistaken this for shots being fired at them. I also said that the media heard these reports and exaggerated them and ran with the story that people were shooting at rescue workers. And from there the story has been that people were shooting at rescue workers, which is even a statement that you repeated and stood by several times. But what police and city officials now say is that people were not shooting at rescue workers.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

The Acadian staff SAID they were firing shots. The media reported that.

Now, wether or not the shots were aimed at them or not, they thought they were.

There is no way to know for sure.

There was no agenda.

They reported what they were told.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

I still stand by it.

 

[porkchop]

The Acadian staff SAID they were firing shots. The media reported that.

Now, wether or not the shots were aimed at them or not, they thought they were.

There is no way to know for sure.

There was no agenda.

They reported what they were told.

I can understand the workers halting opperations and reporting that they heard shots, but the media turned around and reported that people were shooting at rescue workers which wasn't true. And from there the story got repeated over and over again, by police who later corrected themselves and said it wasn't true, by people that used it to spread an agenda that black people were animals, and by misinformed people on the internet. Even you earlier in this very thread you said that people were shooting at rescue workers.

Kimberlyd125

<----The reason I get up every morning.
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 9,822


I hate to hear this. Katrina was a very trying time in our state.

I don't know exactly what went on at that bridge but I will say this, LE and rescue workers were shot at several times while trying to help in NOLA in the days after Katrina. It was widely known and covered by the media. One report even captured some people shooting at a rescue helicopter. A lot of people would not go there to help because of this reason.

I'm in no way saying these guys on the bridge did no wrong, it looks like they did.

Just trying to put it in perspective. A lot of great people that were trying to help we shot at.

So yes the media did spread the false report that people were shooting at rescue workers and that was picked up and spread like wild fire. Still to this day people believe that that is the case.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

I can understand the workers halting opperations and reporting that they heard shots, but the media turned around and reported that people were shooting at rescue workers which wasn't true. And from there the story got repeated over and over again, by police who later corrected themselves and said it wasn't true, by people that used it to spread an agenda that black people were animals, and by misinformed people on the internet. Even you earlier in this very thread you said that people were shooting at rescue workers.

So yes the media did spread the false report that people were shooting at rescue workers and that was picked up and spread like wild fire. Still to this day people believe that that is the case.

What do you mean in wasn't true????
The staff of Acadian said they WERE FIRING AT THEM.
How is reporting that says people are firing at rescue workers turning anything around or reporting things that's not true.

They reported what they were told.

I provided a link earlier that says exactly what the reps at Acadian said.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

It IS the case!
It's what the workers said!

How can you or anybody know it's nor true? Because the "evidence" does not support it? Meaning there were no holes in the helicopter?

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Proves or disproves NOTHING.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

There was also a military person that was shot in the leg.

I read it today and could provide a link, but I'm not sure that would be good enough.

 

[porkchop]

Her is a pretty good article on how all of the shooting at rescue workers rumors were spread, especially by the media. And also how the only rescue helicopter airlift operations that were stopped were by Arcadian and the only location they stopped operations at was at the Superdome.

Like many early horror stories about ultra-violent New Orleans natives, whether in their home city or in far-flung temporary shelters, the A.P. article turned out to be false. Evacuation from the city of New Orleans was never "halted," according to officials from the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Louisiana National Guard. The only helicopter airlifts stopped were those by a single private company, Acadian Ambulance, from a single location: the Superdome. And Acadian officials, who had one of the only functional communications systems in all of New Orleans during those first days, were taking every opportunity to lobby for a massive military response.

In fact according to this article not one military or civilian airlift operation reported being fired on.
http://reason.com/archives/2005/12/01/they-shoot-helicopters-dont-th

 

[porkchop]

There was also a military person that was shot in the leg.

I read it today and could provide a link, but I'm not sure that would be good enough.

If you have a link provide it

 

[Kimberlyd125]

I saw enough on live TV to know that many of the Katrina survivors were animals.

So did I.