Violence in New Orleans 'wildly exaggerated' David Nason, New York correspondent September 28, 2005
THE official body count from the New Orleans Superdome and Convention Centre has established that reports of the city being plunged into an orgy of murder, rape and mayhem in the wake of Hurricane Katrina were wildly exaggerated.
An investigation by Louisiana's Times-Picayune newspaper has found that just 10 bodies were recovered from these now notorious venues - six from the Superdome and four from the convention centre.
Murder is believed to be a possibility in just one case.
New Orleans district attorney Eddie Jordan said authorities had confirmed just four murders in all of New Orleans in the week after Katrina.
For a city with about 200 murders a year, this made it an average week.
The findings are in sharp contrast to the widely reported claims of unchecked African American gang violence at the Superdome and Convention Centre, where 40,000 to 50,000 flood victims had sought safety and shelter.
In many instances, the media reporting of this non-existent carnage was driven by the claims of officials such as New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, the city's police chief Eddie Compass and Louisiana State Police Henry Whitehorn, as well as the accounts of traumatised residents after they were evacuated.
In interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Mr Compass talked of babies being raped and Mr Nagin said "hundreds of armed gang members" were killing and raping inside the Superdome.
Mr Nagin told Winfrey the crowd had descended to an "almost animalistic state".
The stories continued to be spread by evacuees arriving at emergency shelters set up in places such as San Antonio and Houston in Texas. They will all now make fertile ground for those who study the phenomena of the urban myth.
Even the doctor in charge of removing the bodies was fooled.
Local News is also reporting that no instances of shooting at rescue helicopters has been verified....
we do know that many "shoppers" forgot to leave their Visa number tho
quote:Originally posted by glassman: i think some people need to investigate WHO EXACTLY released the PR's claiming they were shooting at the rescuers....
I was down there for the relief effort. Armed civilians were shooting at rescuers and law enforcement.
Posts: 10 | Registered: May 2005
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it's hard to imagine shooting at rescuers in America...
i personally still have not seen an interview of anybody who was shot at...
in other words? how about a first-hand account?
i did see the newsmen in boats reacting to strangers as if they had been shot at, but none of them had any first-hand accounts either, just panic-rumor-type reactions...
the liberal media again timber?
you know what? i watch SOME so-called entertainment TV... network shows? they are getting sleazier and sleazier... they claim they have to or people won't watch... so which is it? is the media getting more "liberal" to satisfy an imaginary customer base? (cuz the "plurality" is isn't real maybe) or is the customer base deamnding more sleaze? i dunno... i don't watch it that much... the commercials alone are more "liberal" aren't they? viagra, cialis etc???
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Violence is an everyday thing for New Orleans... This storm just brought attention to those very people as they were mainly the ones who stayed.
-------------------- Spend Word For Word With Me And I Shall Make Your Wit Bankrupt Posts: 161 | From: Here | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by DeportTheWitless: Violence is an everyday thing for New Orleans... This storm just brought attention to those very people as they were mainly the ones who stayed.
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