Police shoot and kill man in FEMA trailer standoff

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Early Wednesday morning, New Orleans Police fatally shot the occupant of a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailer, supplied by the federal government, ending a 10 hour standoff in one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005.

FEMA workers alerted police Tuesday afternoon after a man brandishing a handgun ordered them to leave the trailer, parked in an lot overgrown by weeds in the affluent Lakeview neighboorhood, while they were conducting an inspection of the trailer. The home had been put up for sale by the sheriff in May 2007 because of $78,300 in unpaid property taxes.

The man, yet to be identified by police, barracaded himself inside a partially gutted home adjacent to the trailer, and when the police got into the house, he shot at them twice, but caused no injuries. The police shot the suspect at approximately 2 a.m. after he pointed a handgun at officers who attempted to take him into custody.

The victim's brother revealed to police that his brother was mentally ill, but had refused treatment for many years.