New Orleans PD

Sunday, September 4, almost a week after the killer storm slammed into New Orleans, volunteer rescue workers operating in boats came under fire from a gang of thugs on the Danziger Bridge.  Earlier in the week, a group of Army Corps of Engineers contract workers had been shot at while crossing the same bridge.

Several New Orleans police officers rushed to the bridge after the rescue workers came under fire.  In a fierce gunfight, the officers killed one of the shooters and wounded several others.  At least two fled to a nearby motel.  The cops chased after them.

At the motel, the officers engaged the gunmen again and killed another one.

After the running gunbattle ended, six thugs lay sprawled on the ground at the bridge and at the moteltwo dead and four wounded.  A seventh suspect had been captured unharmed.  None of the police officers were injured.

Officer Patrick Hartman, one of the cops involved in the shootout at the motel, later described the group of suspectstwo of whom were femaleas a "bunch of crackheads."

When news of the gunfight reached the exhausted cops at the command center downtown, they cheered.  Many viewed it as a sign that the embattled police department was retaking control of the city.