By Dorothy Rowley

Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspaper

The Justice Department has announced indictments for six New Orleans police officers in connection with a fatal shooting and subsequent cover-up in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The 27-count indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Louisiana alleges how 17-year-old James Brisette was killed and four members of his family wounded and how 40-year-old Ronald Madison was killed along the Danziger Bridge in eastern New Orleans.

Four officers, Robert Faulcon, Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius and Anthony Villavaso, are in jail on homicide and obstruction of justice charges in the shootings that occurred minutes apart during the chaotic aftermath of the hurricane. Faulcon and Villavaso are Black. If convicted, they could face the death penalty. 

Two police department supervisors Arthur Kaufman and the now-retired Gerard Dugue who helped investigate the shootings at the time, were charged with participating in a cover-up to make it appear the shootings were justified. Charges against them include obstruction of justice. Kaufman faces up to 120 years in prison and Dugue faces a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison.

The officers had responded to the Danziger Bridge just a few days after the hurricane hit following reports of looting and someone shooting at other officers. 

According to the Justice Department, Brisette and five members of the Bartholomew family were walking across the bridge to get food and other supplies from a grocery store when the officers began shooting. 

Brisette was killed and four other people were wounded. 

Minutes later, the officers then allegedly shot at two brothers, including Madison, who was mentally disabled, and Bowen allegedly kicked the man repeatedly. Madison was pronounced dead at the scene.

The officers contended they fired in self-defense. But Justice officials claim that the victims were shot without cause. According to the department, a gun was planted at the scene as part of a cover up and fictional witnesses were created.