New Orleans: Turmoil, Violence, Murder

From New Orleans News Accounts: The Marigny shootings -- for which police offered no motive -- capped a wave of bloodshed severe even by New Orleans standards, and came three days after Police Superintendent Warren Riley called a year-end news conference to put a positive spin on the 2006 murder total of 161, which he called the lowest in 30 years. On a per-capita basis, however, even the most optimistic projection of the post-Katrina city's drastically shrunken population makes that figure an increase from previous years. The style of the slayings -- which in at least two cases took place with police officers stationed only blocks away -- ranged from a single shot at point-blank range to a spray of 17 bullets. Some victims "had heroin in their hand and crack in their pocket," said New Orleans Deputy Chief Steven Nicholas at a late morning news conference Thursday.

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