Four and a half years ago, with 80 percent of New Orleans inundated with Hurricane Katrina floodwaters, seven members of the New Orleans Police Department shot and killed two men and wounded four others as they attempted to cross an eastern New Orleans bridge.

The two men killed on September 4, 2005, just six days after Hurricane Katrina reached New Orleans, were 19-year-old James Brissette and 40-year-old Ronald Madison, who was mentally handicapped.

In December of 2006 Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan filed murder and attempted murder charges against the seven police officers involved in the incident, who later became known as the Danziger 7. When the seven accused officers turned themselves in, they were greeted by a boisterous crowed of supporters carrying signs that called them "Heroes" and chanting "Heroes" repeatedly as they hugged and kissed the officers.

After the incident, NOPD officials acknowledged the officers shot people from both sides of the bridge, but contend they were shot at first.

Sgt. Kenneth Bowen, Sgt. Robert Gisevius Jr., Officer Anthony Villavaso II and former Officer Robert Faulcon Jr. each faced first-degree murder and attempted murder charges in the case. Attempted first-degree murder charges were filed against Officer Mike Hunter Jr. and Officer Robert Barrios and attempted second-degree murder charges against Officer Ignatius Hills.

Charges against the Danziger 7 were dismissed on August 13, 2008 by District Judge Raymond Bigelow, who agreed with defense attorneys who argued that prosecutors violated state law by disclosing secret grand jury testimony to a police officer who was a witness in the case.

Shortly after a request from the Madison family and civil rights groups asking federal investigators to pick up the case, they agreed to do so.

The federal investigation took a major step forward last week with the former police lieutenant's guilty plea.

Michael Lohman, a 21-year veteran of the New Orleans Police Department, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Federal prosecutors said Lohman and other unspecified officers conspired to create false witness statements, falsify reports of the incident and plant a gun in an attempt to make it appear the killings were justified.

He told U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle Wednesday that after deciding that the seven officers' version of what transpired on the Danziger Bridge was "legally unjustifiable," he told them to "come up with a plausible story."

Members of the Danziger Bridge shooting victims' families watched Wednesday's proceedings from the courtroom gallery.

"After closely monitoring the state prosecution which ended, we embarked on an intensive effort to reconstruct the tragic events on the Danziger Bridge. Our investigation has yielded the conviction of one of a group of NOPD officers responsible for a cover-up of the true circumstances of a deadly police shooting," said U.S. Attorney Jim Letten of the Eastern District of Louisiana. "As we forge ahead, the public we serve must know that we will leave no stone unturned to aggressively investigate and bring to justice any officer who tarnishes the badge through criminal conduct. We extend our appreciation to the majority of the NOPD officers who serve their department and their profession with honor and integrity."

Federal officials say Lohman drafted his own 17-page false report after realizing that another investigator's fabricated account of what took place on Sept. 4, 2005 was neither logical nor believable.

After learning that another NOPD investigator planned to plant a gun at the shooting scene, Lohman reportedly asked him if it was "clean," meaning it couldn't be traced, according to federal court documents.

The documents described how Lohman also instructed the investigator to speak with each of the shooting officers to ensure they were "OK with" the fabricated report and were willing to give statements that did not contradict it.

"The fact that you have an officer who supervised these officers admitting he conspired to cover up - it doesn't get much better than that for vindication," Gary Bizal, an attorney representing Jose Holmes Jr., who was shot several times in the stomach during the shooting, told USA Today last week. Holmes was initially charged with shooting at officers but those charges were later dropped, Bizal said.

"It's pretty incredible stuff," Bizal told The Associated Press "It's like a script from Hollywood."

Witnesses and survivors contend the shooting victims were unarmed and that five of them were attempting to cross the bridge to find food. Two others, Lance and Ronald Madison, were headed to a sibling's dentistry office when the incident occurred.

Police said four and a half years ago that they only fired on the people on the Danziger Bridge in eastern New Orleans after they were fired upon.  

"Today is a dark and disappointing day for the citizens of New Orleans, especially for the honest and dedicated members of the New Orleans Police Department," said NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley. "We are both victims of illegal actions committed by this former ranking member who violated the public's trust and the department's code of conduct.

"I did not read the report,"  Riley, who was second in command at the time of the shooting, added. "I was briefed. You have to realize that we were trying to get housing, We were trying to deal with officers whose families were displaced. There was so many things going on, but I was briefed on the report and from the briefing it certainly was not indicative in any way that there was a cover-up."

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said Wednesday that the investigation has not run its course and declined to say whether higher-ranking NOPD officials might be targets of the federal investigation.

"Know this," Jim Letten, said at a press conference after the hearing. "The investigation continues. It is ongoing.

"We will forge ahead," he said. "Our evidence is strong."

Lohman's admission of guilt last week marks the first conviction in the racially explosive case.

Lohman, 42, has agreed to cooperate fully with federal prosecutors and was released Wednesday on $50,000 bond. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. His sentencing has been scheduled for May 26.

While Lohman's plea brought some closure to families of victims in the highly publicized case, federal agents are still investigating several other incidents, including the shooting deaths of a 41-year-old Connecticut man in the Faubourg Marigny and the killing of a Black man in Algiers shortly after the hurricane. There is some speculation that the Connecticut man, Matthew McDonald, was shot by police while lying on the ground and the charred remains of 31-year-old Henry Glover were found near the Mississippi River in a burned car. Before his death, Glover had been taken into police custody. Federal agents are also investigating the shooting death of Danny Brumfield Sr., 45, outside the Convention Center in the wake of Katrina, where police say he was killed after attacking officers with a pair of scissors.

Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, told The New York Times last week that the fact that the accusations extend beyond the actually shootings and include an orchestrated effort to conceal evidence "is really indicative of a systemic integrity issue.

"It's going to rock the police department to the core," Goyeneche added.

"We are very, very happy about the progress that the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department have made," Dr. Romell Madison, Ronald's brother, said Wednesday. "The people of New Orleans should be relieved that there is still justice for everybody here."

The Rev. Leonard Lucas, a minister from the Lower Ninth Ward and a former state legislator, told WBOK radio station that members of the family of James Brissette have been traumatized by the Danziger Bridge shootings and are still fearful of New Orleans police.

"They're afraid to come back to this city," said Lucas, who visited several of the shooting victims in the hospital after the incident. "They have not come back to this city because they are afraid. There is no justice in this city."

Among the Brissette family is a woman who lost her arm in the incident. Former Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan told WBOK radio station Friday that he is disappointed that the NOPD's top brass has not reached out to the shooting victims.

"There was really never an expression of remorse on the part of police leadership," Jordan said.

"Michael Lohman deserves to go to jail," NOPD Supt. Warren Riley said. "Any other officers who participated in this cover up should also go to prison and be given the maximum sentence allowed."

Letten said Lohman is cooperating with investigators who are seeking additional details about the police department's actions.

Dylan Utley, Lohman's attorney, Dyan Utley, told The Associated Press Wednesday that his client "did what's right for him and what's right for his situation" and hopes to "make amends."

"We rely on our law enforcement officers to protect us, particularly in times of disaster and devastation such as what followed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. What this defendant did was a shameful violation of that public trust," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "We will continue to aggressively investigate the incidents that occurred on the Danziger Bridge and we will continue to prosecute any officer who violates federal law."

"It looks like the blue code has been broken," former U.S. Attorney Harry Rosenberg told The Associated Press. "Remember, those officers stood shoulder to shoulder when it was in state court. Nobody said anything."

Last week's guilty plea is the latest in a string of black eyes on the New Orleans Police Department, including the pre-Katrina murder conviction of former NOPD officer Len Davis. Police were also criticized for abandoning their posts during and after Hurricane Katrina, shooting unarmed civilians throughout the city, looting at an Uptown New Orleans Wal-Mart store and illegally taking cars from a New Orleans Cadillac dealership.

While some of the department's leaders have pointed to the horrific conditions police faced in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, federal prosecutors aren't buying it.

"It is never acceptable to break the law in order to enforce it. The law must be respected by those entrusted to uphold it while protecting the rights of those they serve," said FBI Special Agent in Charge David Welker of the New Orleans Field Office. "It is the responsibility of the FBI to weed out the few who dishonor the police profession. There are many hardworking officers who sacrifice daily to bring honor to the NOPD badge, and the FBI will continue to work hand-in-hand with them in endeavors to ensure the safety of the citizens of New Orleans."  

"The constitution applies 365 days a year," Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, said. "There are no grace periods from the constitution. The rule of law does not get suspended."

"I'm glad to see that things have progressed to this point, that finally the truth is coming out," attorney Danatus King, president of the New Orleans branch of the NAACP and a member of Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu's search committee for a new police chief. "I don't think all of the truth has come out. I'm glad that this has come out, but it actually raises more questions about the actual extent to which the corruption exists. Not only in the police department but also with regard to what's going on and what went on in the D.A.'s office and also in the Criminal District Court that handled the charges against the shooters.

"Early on, the NAACP and other organizations raised concerns about some of the linkages and relationships that existed between the judge that presided over that case, his staff and some of the defendants. We raised those concerns and those concerns, to the respect of a lot of community members, were not addressed properly and sufficiently.

"Concerns exist and questions persist relating to the way the case against the shooters was summarily dismissed and a lack of attention to the merits as to whether or not they were guilty of the charges that had been brought against them," King told The Louisiana Weekly.   "The case was dismissed on a technicality, a technicality that was allegedly an error by an assistant district attorney."

King said the disclosure of secret grand jury testimony that led to the dismissal of the charges by Judge Raymond Bigelow was leaked to NOPD Lt. Lohman, who entered a guilty plea Wednesday.

"Now we know the type of character (Lohman) has, that he has admitted to participating in a conspiracy and a cover-up," King said. "We know that that's his nature. Now that brings into question whether that divulging of grand jury information to him - which eventually led to the dismissal of all the charges against the defendants - was actually part of another cover-up and conspiracy.

"We are hopeful that the investigation will also include investigating those other areas of the criminal justice system - the D.A''s office and the court," King added.

King said that in addition to re-examining the cases of Levon Jones, Adolph Grimes III and Joe Williams, a Hot 8 Brass Band trombonist killed by police in Tremé in August 2004, the NAACP insists that Letten and the Justice Department look into other cases like that of a Tremé resident who was beaten by police and dropped outside of a New Orleans hospital without explanation.

Observers say that now that the Justice Department has gotten a conviction in the case they expect others involved in any way with the Danziger Bridge to begin scrambling to protect themselves and minimize the consequences they might face in federal court.

"Now the government has a cooperating witness and it causes those officers to wonder if they should be running to the U.S. Attorney to look for a deal," Rosenberg told The Associated Press.

A former Black police officer who spoke to The Louisiana Weekly under condition of anonymity said he is not the least bit surprised by last week's developments. "It was only a matter of time," he said. "Some in the department have been getting away with this kind of stuff for a very long time."

He described the relationship between Black and white police officers as "strained at times.

"Sometimes you wonder if you're working toward the same goals and who the real enemy is," he added. "During quiet times the racial divide in the department gets a little blurred but during difficult times it can get downright nasty and stressful.

"Cleaning up the police department will only make life better for the people of New Orleans and the many officers who want nothing more than to do their jobs and make it home to their families."

Adolph Grimes Jr., father of Adolph Grimes III, who was gunned down by police on Jan. 1, 2009 outside his grandmother's home, told WBOK radio station Friday morning that everyone involved in the Danziger Bridge shootings and all the other incidents involving cops taking the lives of innocent residents need to be held accountable before the community can begin to trust police again.

"There are some good cops on the force, but the ones that are corrupt not only need to be rooted out but also charged as criminals," Grimes said. "We need a police department that protects and serves, not serves as judge, jury and executioner."

King echoed Grimes' sentiments.

"The plea by Lt. Lohman shows us that all of those individuals that were involved - the seven shooters, Lt. Lohman, an investigator and at least one other officer - were able to keep that cover-up going for more than four years," King told The Louisiana Weekly. "And not only keep it going for more than four years but exchange different drafts of false reports and revise the false reports. They were able to do all of those things without anything coming to light. With that many people being involved in that conspiracy, it leads me to believe that there were others that - if they were not a shooter or were not part of the investigatory team that wrote the report - at least knew about the cover-up. According to federal law, if you know about a crime and you fail to report it, you are guilty of a crime yourself.

"Right now, there should be an extensive investigation - and I am not questioning the extent to which the U.S. attorney is conducting the investigation," King continued. "It's indicative of a problem that is greater than six or seven officers. That's something that the incoming administration is going to have to address, not only selecting a new police chief but actually cleaning up the department that the new police chief is going to govern."

King also said the Justice Department needs to look at the Civil Service Commission and how it carries out its duties. A number of cops who were fired or disciplined for questionable actions were subsequently allowed to return to the department by the commission  and the courts, including Officer Robert Evan­gelist, who was disciplined for his role in a physical altercation with Robert Davis, a 64-year-old retired educator, in the French Quarter that was captured on videotape.

Neither Letten nor Perez would specify how far-reaching or high-up the investigation might go, but both made it clear that federal investigators would go where the evidence leads them.

"The investigation is going to attempt to bring all perpetrators to justice," Perez said.

"I see a massive cover-up that's going to lead into other branches of government," Eddie Jordan predicted on WBOK radio station Friday.

This case is being investigated by the New Orleans Field Office of the FBI, and is being prosecuted by Deputy Chief Bobbi Bernstein and Trial Attorney Forrest Christian of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia K. Evans of the Eastern District of Louisiana.

"We can all see this is a systemic problem," Jordan told WBOK Friday morning. "We need a federal presence in the police department as there was when Richard Pennington was chief."

"The community should remember that last week's developments in the Danziger case didn't happen just by coincidence," Danatus King told The Louisiana Weekly.   "There was a lot of community concern shown early on, there were many meetings with the Madison family, press conferences, letters sent out to different authorities, different things that occurred to keep the pressure on.

"And even though it took over four years for us to get to this point, that's the kind of commitment that's needed to address these issues, Hopefully, the community will be encouraged by this and have the realization that with a lot of these issues, it's not a sprint, that we have to be committed and committed for the long run, for the marathon."

This article was originally published in the March 1, 2010 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper