We Interrupt This Pageant Report....

...to bring you an update on the situation in New Orleans. The UK Observer reported on September 4, 2005 the men who were shot by New Orleans police were contractors for the Army Corps of Engineers.

Police Kill Five Contractors on La. Bridge
Sunday September 4, 2005 11:16 PM

AP Photo VTAP102

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Police shot eight people carrying guns on a New Orleans bridge Sunday, killing five or six, a deputy chief said. A spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers said the victims were contractors on their way to repair a canal.

The contractors were walking across a bridge on their way to launch barges into Lake Pontchartrain to fix the 17th Street Canal, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Corps.

Earlier Sunday, New Orleans Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley said police shot at eight people, killing five or six.

The shootings took place on the Danziger Bridge, which spans a canal connecting Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River.

No other details were immediately available.

However, Fox News and other American media outlets reported the story this way:

New Orleans Cops Shoot Eight Gunmen
Sunday, September 04, 2005

NEW ORLEANS — Police shot and killed at least five people Sunday after gunmen opened fire on a group of contractors traveling across a bridge on their way to make repairs, authorities said.

Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley said police shot at eight people carrying guns, killing five or six.

Fourteen contractors were traveling across the Danziger Bridge under police escort when they came under fire, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers.

They were on their way to launch barges into Lake Pontchartrain to help plug the breech in the 17th Street Canal, Hall said.

None of the contractors was injured, Mike Rogers, a disaster relief coordinator with the Army Corps of Engineers, told reporters in Baton Rouge.
The bridge spans a canal connecting Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River.

No other details were immediately available.

Perhaps Tim Russert or Ted Koppel should get to the bottom of this incident by investigating whose story is accurate. Is it the report given by, then Deputy Superintendent Warren Riley, now acting Superintendent appointed by mayor Ray Nagin in the wake of the recent resignation by P. Edwin Compass III? Is the true story found in the statement provided by Mike Rogers, a Disaster Relief Coordinator for the Army Corps of Engineers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana who according to US media reports told reporters none of the contractors was injured? Is the right story coming from John Hall, the Army Corps of engineers spokesman quoted in the Associated Press story published by the British news paper's online presence Guardian Unlimited?

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