01x04 - sh**t to k*ll

[bunniefuu]

-In order to
destroy our people,

you got to take
away their humanity.

-It was not all the storm.

They didn't care whatsoever
about getting us out of here.

Because it should
never have taken that long.

But they were more
worried about something else.

-I hate to say it,
can't protect our property.

And I don't understand why
they're not being even harder.

-When law enforcement
is present,

order is expected.

Without it, terror
and mayhem can ensue.

-I need reinforcements.

I need troops, man.

[reporter] Thousands of newly
arrived guardsmen have been

ordered to take the city
back from armed looters.

-They say that New Orleans
was out of control,

ruled by th*gs.

But when they
came down here,

all they found is
some hard-working,

God-fearing people that
just happened to be poor.

-Is martial law
in effect there?

I don't know why
that isn't in effect.

You know, martial law.

-Well, martial is
something that's declared.

-sh**t looters on site.

-By the United State Congress.

Well, the martial law comes
from the United States Congress.

It is a complicated process.

[reporter] Would you
request martial law?

-I've already
called for martial law in

the city of New Orleans.

[helicopter approaching]

[reporter] The breaking
news of this hour,

the mayor of New Orleans
redeploying 1,500 City Police

tonight, he says.

Taking them off the
search for survivors.

Putting them instead
on the search for looters.

-I was in the Hyatt Hotel
along with the rest of the

executive staff of the mayor.

It was at that point that
Police Chief Compass came

into the room where
the mayor and I were.

He said,
I've got a problem.

So the room cleared out.

And the police chief
said, last night,

one of our officers was
just shot in the head.

[reporter] New Orleans police
officer Kevin Thomas stopped

four suspicious men
at this Chevron in the

City's West Bank.

Three cooperated, but when
he went to frisk the fourth,

a b*llet from a .45
ripped through his head.

A savage attack that
almost took his life.

-We had situation
where people were actually

sh**ting at the police.

Was in the
case of Kevin Thomas,

where he actually
got shot in the head.

[Sally Forman] Chief Compass
knew the officer and

he became very emotional.

That's when the mayor responded
to the police chief and said,

you do whatever you need to do
to get this back under control.

[reporter] Tonight,
in a rare move,

practically unheard
of in the United States,

martial law declared.

-I told my officers,
the rules of engagement

are still in effect.

We are not sh**ting looters.

I am not condoned in
the use of deadly force,

except if your
life is in danger.

I was adamant about that.

-Military police coming in.

-But I was one
man in one place.

This was a
citywide disaster.

You know?

And I couldn't be in the
minds of 1,300 policemen.

-I still say today
we didn't have a crime

problem during Katrina.

We had an
evacuation problem.

We had a command
and control issue.

We had logistic issues.

We had transportation
issues to get people out

as quick as we could.

But it wasn't
a crime problem.

But, boy, we
got a lot of troops and

police on the street.

We were ready.

Nobody's gonna loot this town.

When you got all
these old people in the

building over
here f*cking dying.

Hello.

[reporter] There were still
an awful lot of problems

on the ground.

There were still perhaps
thousands of people who are

trapped in flooded homes.

Rescue workers have to get
out and they have to get to

them and bring them back.

Because by this point,
they've got to be running out

of food and water.

[reporter] Good morning.

Critical hours
ahead in New Orleans.

Rescue teams getting back
to work in the aftermath

of Hurricane Katrina.

They're trying to save
people trapped in their

homes since the storm hit.

-It was all about life-saving.

That's it.

To know that you are actually
the exact right person for the

job and that you have
the perfect training for it,

it means it's go time.

But we started to hear
that civilians were sh**ting

at the helicopters.

So we were in the middle
of hoisting a bunch of people

and we only had, like,
six people in the helicopter

and they just dropped
the bare hook without

a rescue device, so I
knew that was just for me.

So I clipped
in and went up.

And then, they
just shut the door.

And I was like,
what's going on?

Like, we, we got,
basically, an empty plane.

And they're like,
a helicopter crashed.

And I was like, oh, my God.

The story was that there
was a SWAT police van that

had been taken over by
civilians and that they were

sh**ting at the helicopters.

And they stopped
all rescue operations,

and everybody had to land
at the Coast Guard Air Station.

-I'd gotten a call from
the White House and said

the boss want to know are
there sn*pers in New Orleans.

Because if there are, he would
airdrop the 82nd Airborne in.

I said, there's no
sn*pers in New Orleans.

What people are doing
is they're sh**ting to try

to get attention.

He said okay.

But if they
prove to be there,

we're gonna
send federal troops

and federalize the
entire operation.

That would have
been a big deal.

That would have put a large
contingent of federal troops

in charge of enforcing
the law against the people

of New Orleans.

We did not need that.

There wasn't an uprising
that needed to be suppressed.

There were people
who needed to be helped.

And an active force needed
to handle the humanitarian

side of the disaster.

[Sara Faulkner] So now,
we were back at the

Coast Guard Air Station

and, and we're,
like, oh, my God.

Who is it?

Who is it that crashed?

And then,
found out it was us.

My helicopter, in particular,
they thought had crashed

or got shot at because nobody
had heard from us for hours.

But once we
realized that we

were the so-called
missing party,

then word got back to,
you know, the powers that be.

But it took them a while.

Basically, our whole fleet.

And not just us.

It was, you know, other
branches and stuff were

grounded for that time
period when they thought

a helicopter had crashed.

And I had the radio on,
and I was just listening

to everything going on.

And I was just,
like, oh, my God.

We're not
gonna get them all.

Yeah.

It's like, we're
not gonna get them all.

[♪ somber music playing]

So we were chomping
at the bit because we were,

I felt like we
were wasting time.

So what I found actually
insulting was the stuff about

how there wasn't
enough done because of race,

when that was
the opposite for us.

But I know that's
not true for everybody.

-My personal experience was
that there were helicopters

out there, but they
were flying more going

towards the Lakeview area.

Lakeview is an affluent
area with very nice houses.

People of higher income.

And when you
are in the water,

in harm's way,

and a helicopter is
just passing over you,

constantly going,
and you know where,

that wasn't fair.

That's why I worked
on fishing boats,

trying to get
people out of attics,

out of harm's way.

[Sally Forman] So
the storm hit Sunday,

and this was Thursday.

And we felt as if
the help was coming,

but we were having a
hard time understanding

why it wasn't there yet.

We did not know that
help was being stopped.

We still had
a lot of people

on rooftops
needing to be rescued.

But we knew there
would be people who said,

I've got a boat.

I'm getting out on the water
and I'm saving whoever I can.

And that's all we
had for quite a while.

[Eric Wright] Every day,
we followed the same

path with the boat.

And every house had
water up to the roof.

Every house.

You had people who were
trapped in the attic,

but the intense heat of
the day was overwhelming.

Back up, homeboy.

-Back up.
-Back up.

-We got him.
-I hear somebody else.

-Yo.

[Eric whistles]

[Eric Wright] You see,
there's a difference in a

cry for help and a wailing.

I've heard both.

And you realize that help
really isn't on the way.

[♪ somber music playing]

-I got you, man,
I'm right here.

Just hold on,
you gonna be all right.

-I saw Eric doing his
thing and he saw me.

And as I was passing, I was
like, oh, look, that's Eric.

And Eric like,
oh, look, there's John.

It was like, hey, buddy.

I can't turn around
and chit-chat with you.

I got to go.

But nah,
it was good to see.

I couldn't see him doing
anything different though.

-John Keller, I can't say
enough about that brother.

He's, he could do it all.

[John Keller] Too bad
it flood all of that, huh?

I lived in
American Can apartments.

It used to be a cannery.

So after the hurricane
hit and the flooding,

we went door to door.

So many people rolled to
the door in their wheelchairs.

And when I closed it,
I looked at my cousin Chris.

I say, man, these
people are in trouble.

But we don't
have any elevators.

These people gonna
die in their apartments.

I said, we got to
get them out of here.

-Oh, what's happening?

[John Keller] This everybody
on top of the rooftop

of American Can Apartments.

I had 107 people
in the building.

People were still
coming to the building.

Say hello.

-Hey.

[John Keller] So,
they went to the roof.

So I went and I got
fire extinguishers.

You know, those ones with
the powder inside of them.

And I sprayed out
DRP, MREs, H2O.

That was acronyms that
we used in the military,

so it's just a little quicker.

The helicopters
would fly over us and

read the little
thing and fly off.

Be like, oh, they
coming to get us.

But then, they flew over
me for a couple days reading

my sign on the roof and they
wasn't trying to do anything.

But I saw them
rescue all the White people

at the building,
behind the American Can.

I said, man, I mean,
hopefully, I'm not right

but let's get all the
Black people off the roof.

All the White people
in the wheelchairs on the

top of the roof.

I said,
I hope I'm not right.

Fifteen minutes later,
they gave me one of them.

Fifteen minutes.

I said, "Man, I got 60 elderly
right now and if we don't get

them out of here, it's
gonna be a morgue in here."

So they lifted off the roof.

The people who were able
to walk around or whatever,

I shuttled them to the bayou,
where the helicopters were

picking people up.

I didn't do it by myself.

I had 12 people that helped
me get all this together.

But I didn't know I
was gonna have to, like,

organize this rescue
and make it happen.

But I wound up evacuating
and, and helping 244 people

get rescued out
the American Can.

But when you in America
and this supposed to be the

greatest country
on the planet,

and I'm watching how they
treating these citizens and

how they not worrying
about these citizens.

Like, they're like
second-class citizens.

Man, that was appalling.

After all the stuff
I did for this country,

and for them not to give
you food and water because

you're Black
on the roof, man.

That, that's a
hard pill to swallow.

[reporter] People still
inside the Superdome.

The situation there
is getting very.

[reporter] 23,000, according
to the federal reporters.

[reporter] 23,000.

[reporter] Even as officials
work to clear the Superdome

and pick up survivors
from the interstates,

there are new problems.

-The real hell on Earth
in New Orleans this morning

was here at
the Convention Center,

one of the official
evacuation sites.

[reporter] But there
are no buses here,

and there's no sign
they're coming soon.

[reporter] State and local
officials are pointing the

finger at
Washington and vice versa.

-I just want to know why
they don't bring any buses on

and take these
people out of here.

[reporter] New Orleans mayor
issued an urgent SOS on

Thursday for
storm victims trapped

at the Convention Center.

Supplies there
are running out.

-Three-week-old
baby out here.

They don't have no formula,
no water, and they,

and they want us
to survive out here.

Where's FEMA,
where's the mayor?

-Have a little bit
of down time...

-Somehow, the state
government hadn't exposed the

fact that when the
focus was on the Superdome,

we had a equal number
of people at the

Convention Center that
were standing outside.

-We first learned of the
Convention Center, we, we,

being the federal
government, today.

-I've heard you say during
the course of this evening,

on a number of interviews,

you just found
out about it today.

Don't you guys
watch television?

Don't you guys
listen to the radio?

[reporter] How is it
possible that you're not,

that we're getting better
intel than you're getting?

We had a, a,
a crew in the air.

We were showing
live pictures of,

of the people outside
of the Convention Center.

-We're feeding those people
in the Convention Center.

[reporter] But it begs
the question of why are

you discovering this now?

It's five days that
FEMA's been on the ground.

-It is so.

[reporter] The head of police
says it's been five days that,

that FEMA's been there.

-I believe a lot of
people outside of the city

probably combined the
Convention Center and

the Superdome
into one building,

just not knowing.

Those two
terms together,

people outside
of the city

saw that as one place.

-You know, with
all due respect,

the people in the
Convention Center are being fed.

The peoples on the
bridges are being fed.

-With all due respect,
sir, the people in the.

-Provided water.

-The people in the
Convention Center

are not being fed.

Our reporters.

-I misspoke, the people
in the, the people

in the Superdome.

I'm sorry, you're
absolutely correct.

We're getting
the supplies to the

Convention Center now.

[Sally Forman] We found out
much later that as we were

telling people in the
federal government that in

the Superdome, they have
food and they have water,

at the same time,
in the Convention Center,

there was no food.

There was no water.

-We're finding
food wherever we can.

I just finished serving
the old folks as best I could,

for what we had.

[Kevin Goodman]
I hadn't, I hadn't ate.

I hadn't ate in,
like, three days.

Well, you know,
we all out there.

The whole day
would pass by.

All the hot sun.

We out there in
the hot sun all day.

The sun beaming.

[reporter] This is a federal
disaster, not a local one.

-First, let me tell
you there have been

deliveries of
food and water,

and medical supplies
to the Superdome.

And that's happened
almost from the

very beginning.

[reporter] But this is
the Convention Center.

-See, I, I have not heard a
report of thousands of people

in the Convention Center who
don't have food and water.

-No food, no water.

-And we been here three days.

-People in here
are, are dying from.

-Three days.
-Not eating.

[overlapping shouts]

-I can't stand
it here anymore.

I can't stand it.

I don't ever want to
come back here no more.

[Russel Honore] When the
police chief was telling me

at the Convention Center,

hey, we got all these
th*gs down at there,

who you talking about?

He said, oh,
they arrested them.

They're fighting
with my cops down there.

We need more troops in
here to kept control over.

We need more police.

So I went down there,

and they were just like
the people at the Superdome,

waiting for
somebody to tell them

how they were
gonna evacuate.

-These people haven't
seen security here

at the Convention Center
for four days.

The fear was that
they would turn violent.

That they would
attack supplies and buses.

And look at them.

They're sitting peacefully.

They're just waiting for a ride
that's taking too long to come.

-I call that the
patience of the poor.

I grew up that way.

You learn to wait.

When you're
poor in America,

you're not free.

And when you're poor, you,
you learn to have patience.

You lose choices
when you're poor.

You know, you don't pick
where your kids go to school.

You don't pick
where you live.

And you don't pick
where you go to the doctor,

if you can get to see one.

[overlapping shouts]

[reporter] So
many of these people,

almost all of
them that we see,

are so poor
and they are so Black.

And this is gonna raise
lots of questions for people

who are watching
this story unfold.

-We didn't have no
protection out there.

You know?

But for some reason,
everybody was kind of calm

because of the crisis.

You know?

They knew what was going on.

They knew right now this,
this the time for survival.

One thing about the poor
people from New Orleans,

we knew how to survive.

If anything else,
we knew how to survive.

We knew how to eat.

We knew how to, you know,
we knew how to get food.

We knew how to work.

But we can't
survive in water.

And we cannot survive in
water that's over our head.

You know what I mean?

We, you know, y'all,
y'all got us with that.

[reporter] Over 4,000
National Guard troops were

operating in New Orleans today.

More arrived in
armored vehicles.

Another 12,000 have
been ordered to the region.

-In simplest of terms,
exaggerating conditions on

the ground just
makes things worse.

-We believe that we need to
free up the National Guard,

essentially, to do
security in the city.

-I think, probably, the
mission that came through

the loudest was it's, it's
really messed up down there

and you need to
go help fix it.

And that's probably
not the right mindset of,

of people who should
arrive here should have.


-After we got
to the Superdome,

we were greeted
by the National Guard.

And the National Guard
wanted to search my daughter,

my niece.

They wanted to go inside
their bras and their underwear

and search this
two-year-old baby and

go inside of her Pamper

to see if we had any weapons
to go inside the Superdome.

And then, told me
I couldn't bring my dog.

So, I walked
down to the Hyatt.

And the clerk at the desk,

I was like,
here's my credit card.

Can we just get a room?

Just one room.

She said, no, ma'am.

The computers are down.

We're on auxiliary electricity.

But you can stay.

And they said, anyone with
pets, y'all have to go to,

like, the third floor,
I think it was,

to the ballroom
in the third floor.

I just had surgery, and
I had forgotten my medicine.

So by now, it's, like, hours
since I've taken a pain pill

or anything and
I'm in severe pain.

I'm trying not to show it.

I'm trying to be
strong for them.

But I'm sweating, and
I'm shaking, and I'm cold,

and I'm hurting.

And my daughter
and my niece left.

Left the hotel and went to,
I think they said they went

to Walgreens or something.

And so, they
came back with, like,

just big Santa Claus bag
full of shampoos and Tylenol.

And they were all
excited, and they got this bag.

Mom, we got you
some medicine, Ma.

You gonna be okay, Ma.

We went looting.

I was like, oh my God.

You guys could
have been k*lled.

Y'all could
have been shot.

Then they boarded up
the hotel and they weren't

letting anybody else in.

And they were,
you know, telling

us that we had
to act accordingly.

And this guy was
knocking on the door.

And he kept saying,
you know, let me in.

Let me in.

I was already in there.

Let me in.

And the National Guard
was saying, sir,

do not advance.

We can't let you in here.

Sir, do not advance.

So we had all of this.

And I'm, like,
scared to dead,

half of the time, we
got the military walking

around pointing g*ns, making
folks go to sleep, lay down,

move here, move there.

You know,
hurry up, hurry up.

I said, move now.

Pointing g*ns at you.

And you're like, okay.

It was a lot.

It was a lot.

And it kept you so defensive
that your body ached from,

you know, just wondering
what next, what next?

You know, is it, I, I know
something else is gonna happen.

What next?

[Russel Honore] Governor Blanco
talked to some of her guys

in the National Guard.

And she went out and did
a press conference and said...

-I have one message for these,
for these hoodlums.

These troops know
how to sh**t and k*ll,

and they are more than
willing to do so if necessary.

And I expect they will.

-And I said, Governor,
you don't want to tell your

troops to sh**t
people to k*ll.

That's your people.

"Oh, General."

Ma'am, please.

That's not something
you ever want to do by any

government-elected
official is to tell the

troops to sh**t civilians.

That, that will
flip our democracy.

We saw what happened
at Kent State when

troops over some bullshit
mission went out there

and shot students
on the campus.

I didn't want to be any part
of a operation where troops

thought they had carte
blanche to sh**t people.

[reporter] It took four days,
but the National Guard finally

rolled a relief convoy into
downtown New Orleans today.

-Our job was to protect
people and evacuate them.

That was the priority.

-Thank you.
-You're welcome.

-Not protect some store
or protect property.

-I, I, I, I think
there ought to.

[reporter] What is
justified and what's not?

-Be zero tolerance of
people breaking the law

during an emergency
such as this.

-And we struggling.

People going and loot store

and they're
bringing us the juices.

And they, they're
about to k*ll them.

Then we ain't
gonna have nothing.

-We need to be very
careful when we feel that

the tone has shifted.

And if suddenly the
mission feels like we're

protecting stuff
instead of helping people,

we're, we're probably
getting it wrong.

Yeah.

[reporter] And then,
the rumble of trucks.

It's clear the rescuers feared
the ones that came to help,

at least initially.

[Russel Honore] This was
not a common operation,

there was nobody
sh**ting at us.

But federal troops had
the perception of what they

saw from exaggerated report
on television that the city

was out of control.

[reporter] Can the
National Guard get the city

of New Orleans
under control?

Violence seems
to be everywhere.

Some th*gs are even
threatening EMS personnel.

We'll have the very latest.

[Russel Honore] Some of
them had been fresh from Iraq

and they knew what the
counter-sn*per rule was.

If you had 10 troops,
all of them are pointing at

different directions
looking for the sn*per.

Looking at the ground.

Looking at eye level.

Looking on top of buildings.

And that, that was a
concerning scene when those

troops turned the corner from
Poydras to Convention Street

pointing their weapons.

In many cases, they were
pointing weapons at a place

where a lot of
ladies with babies and

elderly ladies
were standing.

-Get everybody in a line.

Everybody in a line.

-In a disaster, one of
the first thing you got to

do is figure out what
rules you're gonna break.

Hey.

Put that weapon down.

The rule is federal
officers don't tell the

National Guard what to do.

And at that time, we didn't
work for the National Guard.

National Guard
didn't work for us.

Put those damn
weapons down.

I'm not gonna tell
you again, goddammit.

Get those g*dd*mn
weapons down.

Put those
weapons down, damn it.

Well, if you see them
doing dumb sh*t, yeah,

you tell them what to do.

Because they do
a lot of great stuff.

But if they're doing dumb
sh*t that's not consistent

with the mission, which
is to take care of the people,

then, yeah, I tell
them what to do.

Don't, get those
g*dd*mn weapons in there.

Weapons down!

Put it on your back.

[Ed Bush] That Guardsman
who's in Wisconsin,

who's packing their bag
and they're preparing to

come to Louisiana,

kind of feels like
they're going to a w*r zone.

And they weren't.

But that's the mindset
they brought with them.

That it was really,
really bad here.

[Russel Honore] Put that
weapon down on your back.

You're delivering food.

When you're in
rescuing people,

you don't point
g*ns at them.

[clapping]

By that time,
I became somewhat of the

de facto voice because I was
on the ground in New Orleans.

Not in Baton Rouge
and not in D.C.

And I knew one of the
implied tasks was to get

the story straight, and I
clearly understand our mission

was to save lives.

Hey, tiger.

Hey, tiger.

Let's go.

-Again, the
people aren't the problem.

The system's the problem.

The lack of, of systems
that took care of all these

people was the problem.

But the people
aren't the problem.

Go help the people.

And I think that got lost.

[reporter] You know,
my understanding is that

martial law is in effect.

[reporter] That's
what I thought.

[reporter] And it's at this
point we can't protect our own.

[Russel Honore] Martial law was
never enacted in New Orleans.

Mayor Nagin announced that
martial law was in effect.

But he did not
have the authority to

declare martial law.

And that contributed to a lot
of confusion on the ground.

-In practice, declaring
martial law meant giving

the police chief the authority
to do whatever he needed to do.

That's my understanding
of martial law.

-There was rumor
that New Orleans was

under martial law.

But no one had ever told
the, the police department,

hey, we're under
martial law.

No, that never happened.

But there was rumors about
all of that all over the place.

So, did some
officers believe that?

It was a possibility.

-There was a lot of
opportunities there to do

some unsavory things.

But people with
integrity don't do that.

I can vouch for my men
and women that worked for me.

Didn't happen.

Now, you had some
policemen probably had

unsavory intentions and
kind of stepped over the line.

True you, not just some.

You probably had a lot.

[indistinct crowd noise]

[Kevin Goodman] It was
a Friday evening.

The buses didn't come
none through the week.

So we thought it was
mainly gonna come on Friday.

So it started
getting almost dark.

Every time the people
out there would see lights

coming down the street,

they thinking that's the
buses coming to take us away.

A car came
from down the street.

They thought it was a bus.

But that was,
it was a cop car.

And the cop, you know,
he roll ba-, he roll past.

Took his time.

This little guy was, like,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

He was just, like, when,
when they gonna send the buses?

So the, the cop, he
slow down a little bit.

Then the guy felt like
he was being ignored, right?

So he turned
around and walk off.

And when he turned around and
walk off, the cop rolled the,

the, the, the, the
back window down and st-,

stuck his shotgun
out of the window.

And hit the lit-, dude,
hit the little guy in his back.

Pow.

And the guy just
drop right there.

Like, he di-, di-,
he k*lled this,

this man in front
of all these people.

And, and, and, and the
guy's sister was out there.

Like, that, that lady
not gonna never be right.

You know what I'm saying?

As long as she lives, she not
gonna never be right because

she witness her brother
getting k*lled for nothing.

Trying to find out
some information.

Well, I thought that was the
coldest thing in the world.

Like, the police
really k*lling people.

And they k*lling people
in front of everybody.

So I just felt like,
I was like, okay, well,

this was gonna happen to me.

I thought that was
gonna happen to me.

I definitely did.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[indistinct crowd noise]

[Sally Forman] When we knew
that there was no food and

water at the
Convention Center,

and the number
of people kept growing,

and it had reached
above 20,000 people,

the mayor said, if you're
at the Convention Center, walk.

At least then you know
you're walking toward

the safety of others.

-We found one
evacuation route to

walk across the
Crescent City Connection

on the overpass,
down Highway 90.

There's buses coming.

You may be able
to find some relief.

[Lynette Boutte] So, we
were up on the Interstate.

And it was hot as hell.

It was unbearable
in some situations.

You didn't have
access to water.

So my sister and the
people we were with decided

we were gonna go as
far down as we could go.

And we walked down trying
to get as close as we could

to the Algiers, to the bridge,
to Greater New Orleans Bridge.

The only thing we were
looking for was to be able

to find someplace safe.

But that didn't happen.

[Sara Faulkner] By the time
the word got to the people

at the Convention Center and
they began to walk across the

Mississippi River Bridge,

unfortunately, the story of
lawlessness took such a life

of its own that good
members of law enforcement,

but also emergency
personnel and surrounding

neighbors turned people back.

Turned good people
back from help.

-You ready for this?
-No.

-You think this is one of
the scariest things that

you've ever had
to do in your life?

-I can honestly
say yeah, it is.

-We get to the bridge,
it's gonna be f*cking scary.

-Yeah.

-We're gonna be crossing
the Crescent City Connection.

-Yeah.

-Those people are animals.

-The situation is everybody
who's stuck on this side of

the river without
transportation is in the

area that we're
going to right now, and...

-Walking, desperate.
-Walking.

-Without food or water.
-Haven't eaten in a few days.

Haven't drank in a few days.

You know, so, it's, it's
gonna be a pretty desperate

situation when we get there.

And, and I can honestly
say I have no qualms

about sh**ting anybody.

It's just that much
lawlessness right now.

-They'll have
no mercy for us.

-No, we have no fear.

We will sh**t first and
find out later what they wanted.

-I will sh**t first
and ask questions later.

-Right.

-We'll have to be
picking them off the front.

-Here we go.

[Shepard Smith] They have
set up a checkpoint at

the bottom of this bridge.

this is the bridge that
takes you from New Orleans

over into Gretna,

from Orleans Parish
into Jeffersons Parish.

It's the only way out.

It's the, it's the connection
to the rest of the world.

And they've set
up a checkpoint.

And anyone who walks up out of
that city now is turned around.

You are not allowed
to go to Gretna, Louisiana

from New Orleans,
Louisiana.

Over there,
there's hope.

Over there,
there's electricity.

Over there,
there's food and water.

But you cannot go
from there to there.

I think the government
will not allow you to do it.

-We were not allowed
to go across the

Mississippi River Bridge,

even though that's
still Orleans Parish,

which is where our taxes go.

We were told we could not
go into that part of the city.

They were under the
impression that people were

just gonna want to leave
New Orleans to go rob them,

which you really wanted
to get out of New Orleans

so you could
live or survive.

[Malik Rahim] Well, I
was, I was here.

This is Algiers.

Algiers Point, to be exact.

Algiers is the West Bank.

[Patrice Glover] Well, we really
didn't have any water there,

because it was just,
like, a dry land.

But they had trees down,
you know, and limbs and,

you know, stuff in the
streets and stuff like that.

But as far as water, it
didn't have no water on the

West Bank of
the river in Algiers.

-Well, you see the
other hurricanes that

hit New Orleans, if they
don't affect the West Bank,

we don't leave.

You know?

Because we can survive.

It don't damage that bad.

You gonna have
food in your house.

Probably just need water.

Katrina didn't bring no
flooding in the West Bank.

None.

[Patrice Glover] But
Algiers was not safe.

Some of the areas was telling
the people don't come over here.

It wasn't safe at all.

It really wasn't.

[Malik Rahim] Well, one of my
neighbors came around here.

And he came,
he was trembling.

I said, man,
what's wrong with you?

He said, man,
they tried to k*ll me.

He said, man, there's
some White boys around the

corner and I had to
beg them not to sh**t me.

-I was down the street,
and they say, “Where you from?

Where you at?
Turn around, turn around.”

I said, “Hold on. I live
right here in the next block.”

“Turn around.
Turn around.”

-Well, I
didn't believe it.

I went around there with him.

-If you want to call
it vigilantes, yeah.

But we just look
out for everybody.

Yeah.

And that's what we did.

You have to do what
you have to do.

Yep.

If you have to sh**t somebody,
you have to sh**t somebody.

That simple.

-We shot them.

-They were looters.

-Oh, I tried to sh**t,
to put them down.

We didn't try
to sh**t to k*ll.

[interviewer] Oh,
okay, so did you k*ll?

-We k*lled a number of them.

[interviewer] How many
did you k*ll roughly?

-Who cares?

I don't [bleep] know.

Who cares?

What does it [bleep] matter?

[interviewer]
Yeah, I hear you.

-It doesn't matter.

They chose to die.

They chose to com-,
commit suicide.

[Malik Rahim] How we'd
know it was vigilantes?

You see them.

How they patrol
around here in trucks.

Four to a truck.

Driver and a, and a passenger,
and then two in the back.

With long g*ns.

And nobody
telling them anything.

There was no police.

No police.

No, I mean, no
National Guard, nobody.

Then, they put in a,
a sh**t to k*ll curfew.

A, a dusk to dawn
sh**t to k*ll.

But there's nobody left.

Young Blacks was being
k*lled in this community.

And you hear the g*nf*re.

That's not something
I'm just making up.

It's out there.

-It was great.

I got to go.

It was like pheasant
season in South Dakota.

-I got to go.
-If it moved, you shot it.

[♪ somber music playing]

[Patrice Glover] I remember
that the storm had passed.

And we were just, you know,
in Algiers with no information,

no food, no water,
or nothing like that.

-Katrina mean the
day my brother left me.

That what it mean to me.

The day my brother left.

[Patrice Glover] Henry Glover
was my younger brother.

He was going out to,
you know, help his sister

and help his family.

You know, to go out and,
and, and trying to get water

and stuff that we need
that, to, to survive.

-I hear my brother-in-law
from a distance.

Dirty.

That's my nickname,
Dirty Reed.

Dirty.

Dirty.

The police shot
your brother.

I said, they shot my,
they shot him where?

-I go out screaming,
running down the street.

And ask him where
my brother was.

And I found my brother
laying in the streets, shot.

-I knew it was the police
when the first time

I heard he was shot.

My brother-in-law,
that's what he was saying.

A police shot
your brother.

So when I looked to the left,
car coming down the street.

So I flagged that car.

I said, man, my
brother been shot.

Give me some help,
help me.

He said, man, come on,
put him in the car.

-I heard, I heard a g*nsh*t,
but I wasn't paying attention.

I thought it
might be fireworks.

I saw a gentleman
laying on the manhole.

And his brother and his
brother-in-law picks him up

and put him in my,
back seat of my car.

-I picked him up.

Blood was hitting the
ground like it was raining.

Sounded like it was raining.

-I told him bring
him to the hospital.

And William Tanner
told me about a school

called Habans School,

where the police had a
makeshift substation up there.

-So Tanner, the guy we
flagged down, he said, man,

I know the
police is over here.

They, they should have
a doctor over there.

So we sh**t out.

-So I can bring
him to Habans School,

because I know two
days after the storm they

had medical attention there.

They had truckload
of stuff over there.

These, these are police.

So I thought I might
get him the help he need.

[Edward King] Five
of them come out.

Get on the ground.

Get on the ground now.

Get on the ground.

I said we need help.

He's shot.

-And they start
beating us up.

Well, they kicked me
twice in the stomach and

hit me with an M-16 r*fle
on the side of my cheek.

-He punched me in the face.

Bah.

Stood me up, put his
hand around my throat,

choked me until I was,

my eyes rolls in
the back of my head.

I thought they
was gonna k*ll me.

For them to be beating me,
that's when it registered.

These are the
people who shot him.

-They did take
a picture of us.

It was with the police.

Handcuffed behind the police,
you know, police squad car.

I saw one of them
had flares in his pocket,

and he drove off with my car.

With Henry Glover
in the back seat.

I told Edward, I don't
think I'll see that car again.

Because after they, with the
flares he had in his pocket,

he was gonna burn the car up.

His remains was found
burned inside of a car.

[Edward King] People
talk about Katrina,

I kind of shy
away and walk off.

Katrina just a hurricane.

But what they did during
that time, that was evil.

Pure evil.

I don't want
to remember that.

[Malik Rahim] I'm not a
naive person to violence.

But nothing prepared me
for what happened after Katrina.

And it's real hard to see
when that violence is being

inflicted upon you and you
can't defend yourself from it.

That's what had
happened after Katrina.

[Mayor Nagin]
At the parish line,

the county line of Gretna,

they were met with attack
dogs and police officers

with machine g*ns saying
you have to turn back.

-So, we were up on the bridge,
and it became more of a

situation where,
when are we gonna get out?

How are we going to get out?

-We lost everything.

-Here, look,
we this high in water.

-He's from the galley.

-We grabbed what we get.

-I live in
the East over here.

-How long you
been walking for?

-About at least three hours.

[Mayor Nagin] They
weren't gonna go in those

doggone neighborhoods.

They weren't gonna
impact those neighborhoods.

Those people were
looking to escape,

and they cut off the
last available exit route.

-Look at my people.

I got two
grandchildren, a nephew,

another nephew right there.

We got, trying to
get the old folks out.

If I stay up here,
I'm gonna die.

If I go that f*cking
way and they sh**t me now,

I'm gonna die.

So I'm gonna die
any f*cking way.

They gonna tax me anyway.

What-whatever it take
for me to get mine out here,

I'm getting
the f*ck out here.

You heard me.

I wouldn't give a f*ck.

I got to go.