Mortician surprised by New Orleans dead

[kskiska]

Mark Roper spent two weeks in St. Gabriel, La., this month, moving the bodies of Hurricane Katrina’s New Orleans victims into refrigerated trailers.

After watching the steady stream of corpses, Roper’s biggest surprise about the dead: almost all were elderly or homeless.

“The victims who were killed were mostly poor and homeless and institutionalized,” said Roper, vice president of Lincoln’s Roper & Sons.

“You really feel for these people. They just could not get out of the way.”

(snip)

He was surprised by the number of homicides — people with gunshot wounds to their heads and backs. Autopsies were performed on those victims, Roper said.

more…
http://journalstar.com/articles/2005/09/26/local/doc4337209e961f8160575422.txt

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[CountAllVotes]

2. ...

uh huh ...


:kick: :kick:

[brentspeak]

4. Why do you say that?

[patdem]

7. They also could have been mercy killings...instead of drowning

and struggling to live your last moments in fear and knowing you are going to die ...maybe it was mercy killing? I do not know. They did not say WHO the people are who were shot. If they were amoung the old and infirm or if they were young and healthy?

[QC]

13. Did Flocco tell you that? n/t

[maxsolomon]

3. how about some stats?

how many are dead?
how many are homicides?
how many are drownings?
are the dead all recovered yet?

[Judi Lynn]

5. Other possible causes of death were mentioned....

Most of the dead had drowned, Roper said. Others had died of dehydration, probably caused by abandonment, he said.
(snip)

Very, very sad.

On edit:

I agree with maxsolomon. Some actual stats would be so helpful. It would add a little perspective.

It's what we've been waiting for all this time: the truth.

[aquart]

22. The dehydration deaths are unforgivable.

I want to know exactly how many of them there are.

[fooj]

6. The weakest of us all...

Yikes!

[CountAllVotes]

11. yes just like Nazi Germany

All of the sick, disabled, etc. where thrown in those ovens. First to go - last to ever be saved.

:puke:

Shot in the heat uh huh ...

Actual deaths will NEVER be known. I'm afraid that far too many ended up in the bayou, eaten alive by the creatures that live in those waters.

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[benburch]

8. But Rush Limbaugh said...

"Those folks chose to stay."

[Judi Lynn]

10. They should have had their drivers haul their fat asses off, like Rush! nt

[LiberalinNC]

18. I wish Rush would been stranded in NO!

:evilgrin:

[DBoon]

21. it would take a looong time for Rush to starve to death

nt

[benburch]

23. But he'd go through narcotics whithdrawl almost at once!

I'd PAY to see him go through the DTs and try to scrape the bugs off his skin.

[raccoon]

19. Rush Limpballs is just a fat, loudmouthed, bigoted fool.

I'd love to see his ass thrown to the gators.

[benburch]

24. What did the poor gators ever do to deserver THAT?

That was harsh, man, harsh.

[raccoon]

25. That's true. Limpballs would probably poison them. nt

[Judi Lynn]

26. True. I'm sure they've got SOME standards, after all! n/t

[onenote]

9. I'm surprised he's surprised

The elderly and the homeless are exactly who you would expect to be most vulnerable. And as for the number of gunshot victims, its hard to comment without a number. Its not as if New Orleans didn't have a problem with violence before the hurricane. As of mid-August, the city was on track to have around 280-300 homicides for the year(the city was ahead of last year's pace, when there wee 265 homicides). And I believe that's just the city, not the surrounding metropolitan area. (I don't know what the most recent data shows, but I remember that a few years ago, Louisiana had the highest murder rate in the country by a rather sizable margin). Without a number, its hard to say whether the number that died through violence is pretty much what one would expect or something out of the ordinary.

onenote

[jus_the_facts]

12. We'll never know the TRUE number of deaths either....

:grr:

[DemoTex]

14. Two N.O. police officers committed suicide in the really bad days.

We will never know the true extent of this tragedy. The media lap dogs are now back on their leashes and, as usual, the Bu$hco "fix" is in. So very sad.

[peacetalksforall]

15. Blackwater bullet? n/t

[Endangered Specie]

16. What he didnt really except to find some rich white men in suits did he?

:sarcasm:

[rodeodance]

17. blaming the dead with this wording.

For the most part if sick and elderly--they were not helped to get out of the way of Katrina and its aftermath.

.....They just could not get out of the way.”

[expatriot]

20. if bush would have inundated the city with relief, security and rescue

resources the first day then the anarchy would have not have spiraled out of control so. The Stafford Act allows Bush to deploy federal troops to a federally declared disaster area to perform the "essential work of preserving life and property" for ten days and that amount of time can be extended with congressional authorization.