Violence mars rescue
2005-09-05 06:51
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New Orleans - Police shot and killed at least five people on Sunday after gunmen opened fire on a group of contractors travelling across a bridge on their way to make repairs, authorities said.
Deputy Police Chief WJ Riley said police shot at eight people carrying guns, killing five or six.
Fourteen contractors were travelling across the Danziger Bridge under police escort when they came under fire, said John Hall, a spokesperson 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.
- AP