Six More New Orleans Police Officers Indicted in Post-Katrina Shootings

(July 13) -- The Justice Department today plucked more skeletons from the closet of the New Orleans Police Department, indicting six additional officers in the fatal shooting of two unarmed citizens and the wounding of four others in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The indictment is part of the Justice Department's ongoing effort to expose police officers who either were involved in the Sept. 4, 2005, Danziger Bridge shootings or took part in covering them up. To date, five New Orleans officers have pleaded guilty to covering up the incident.

"Today's indictment should serve as compelling evidence of our unswerving and unconditional commitment to ... achieve true justice for any victims of the charged killings, shootings and abuse on the Danziger Bridge, and the alleged corrupt cover-up that followed," U.S. Attorney Jim Letten of New Orleans said in a statement.

The indictment further aims "to restore the trust in the men and women of law enforcement who do serve the people and honor the badge; and to make certain that no one should ever have to fear those whose job it is to protect them," he said.

From left, Sgt. Kenneth Bowen, Officer Anthony Villavaso, Sgt. Robert Gisevius Jr., and Sgt. Robert Faulcon, Jr.

From left, Sgt. Kenneth Bowen, Officer Anthony Villavaso, Sgt. Robert Gisevius Jr., and former Sgt. Robert Faulcon, Jr. were charged with opening fire on an unarmed family on the east side of the Danziger Bridge in New Orleans on Sept. 4, 2005.

Authorities charged that officers Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Anthony Villavaso and Robert Faulcon (now an ex-officer) opened fire on an unarmed family on the east side of the Danziger Bridge in New Orleans. Seventeen-year-old James Brissette was killed, while Susan Bartholomew, 38, and husband Leonard Bartholomew III, 44, were wounded, along with their daughter, Lesha, 17, and nephew Jose Holmes, 19. The Bartholomews' 14-year-old son ran away and was not injured, authorities said.

Minutes after that shooting, authorities said, Faulcon fired shots on the west side of the bridge at brothers Lance and Ronald Madison. Ronald Madison, 40, who had a severe mental disability, was shot in the back. Authorities charged that Bowen stomped and kicked the wounded man, who died at the scene.

Authorities also charged that supervisors Arthur "Archie" Kaufman and Gerard Dugue, who has since left the department, later covered up the shootings.

The Justice Department said today it is too soon to determine whether it will seek the death penalty against the four officers allegedly involved in the shootings.

The state had originally charged seven officers in the case, but the charges were dismissed by a judge who agreed with the defense that prosecutors had bungled the case.

The feds took over and launched an aggressive investigation.

Silas H. Lee, a sociology professor at Xavier University in New Orleans, told AOL News that the ongoing indictments have confirmed people's suspicions about what really happened that day.

"And what it does is give some level of reassurance that justice will get served," he said.