Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
Cheers greet cops charged in deaths
The Associated Press

BILL HABER / AP
New Orleans police officer Robert Barrios gives the thumbs up as he is escorted through a crowd of supporters to the city jail in New Orleans on Tuesday.
NEW ORLEANS — Seven policemen charged in a deadly shooting during the chaos after Hurricane Katrina turned themselves in Tuesday at the city jail, where more than 200 supporters greeted them in a show of solidarity.
Each of the indicted men faces at least one charge of murder or attempted murder in the Sept. 4, 2005, shootings on the Danziger Bridge, less than a week after the hurricane hit New Orleans. Two people died and four people were wounded.
Defense attorneys say the officers are innocent.
Sgts. Kenneth Bowen and Robert Gisevius, officer Anthony Villavaso and former officer Robert Faulcon were charged with first-degree murder. Officers Robert Barrios and Mike Hunter were charged with attempted first-degree murder, and Ignatius Hills was charged with attempted second-degree murder.
A first-degree murder conviction carries a possible death sentence. A spokesman for District Attorney Eddie Jordan said Monday that prosecutors haven't decided yet whether to seek the death penalty in the case.
Those accused of first-degree murder will get no bail, and bail will be $100,000 per count for the other three, a judge said.
The officers are scheduled to be arraigned Friday.
Police say that the officers were responding to a report of other officers down, and that they thought one of the men, Ronald Madison, was reaching for a gun. Madison, a 40-year-old mentally retarded man, and James Brissette, 19, were killed on the bridge. The coroner said Madison was shot seven times, with five wounds in the back.
Madison's brother Lance, who was also on the bridge and was cleared of attempted-murder charges, said he and his brother were not armed.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
![]()

- Records give rare look at how feds probed one reporter
- Pete Carroll on Seahawks' off-field problems: "It's real serious"
- Kemper Freeman plans $1.2 billion expansion in Bellevue
- Earthquake scenarios show potential for huge damage, loss of life
- Huge tornado hits Oklahoma City suburb, kills 51
- NBA player Terrence Williams arrested in Kent for gun threats
- Records: Slain intruder showed signs of mental breakdown
- Poverty hits home in local suburbs like S. King County
- Amazon proposing glass-and-steel biodomes on new campus
- Police: Brother-in-law ‘heavily involved’ in disposal of Susan Powell’s body
- Guest: Stop using the term ‘illegal immigrants’
187 - UW Medicine, Catholic health system to have ‘strategic affiliation’
172 - A few things to take away from this heartbreaking Mariners series
161 - Leading Senate Democrat: IRS behavior intolerable
102 - Don't worry Husky football fans, we'll have you covered
79 - More Obama aides knew of IRS audit; Obama not told
77 - Chris Hansen vows quest to bring NBA back to Seattle will continue
46 - Apple's Cook to face Senate questions on taxes
44 - Amazon.com proposing glass-and-steel spheres
44 - Crews dig through night after deadly Okla. twister
39
- Kemper Freeman plans $1.2 billion expansion in Bellevue
- UW Medicine, Catholic health system to have ‘strategic affiliation’
- Earthquake scenarios show potential for huge damage, loss of life
- China’s wealthy paying cash for Eastside luxury homes
- Community Dinners church nourishes bodies, souls
- Poverty hits home in local suburbs like S. King County
- UW expands online courses, this time from Harvard, MIT
- Amazon proposing glass-and-steel biodomes on new campus
- deafReview gives a voice to deaf consumers
- 129 concerts to see this summer





