Crime Rocks New Orleans

Two years after Katrina, criminals flood city
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 29, 2007 5:59 AM CDT
Crime Rocks New Orleans
Law-enforcement personnel remove guns from Elliot's Gun Shop in Jefferson, La., on the outskirts of New Orleans. Over the past five years, the store was the source of 2,300 weapons later linked to crime, including an astonishing 125 homicides. (AP Photo/Bill Haber, File)   (Associated Press)

Only two-thirds of the population of New Orleans has returned since Hurricane Katrina destroyed large parts of the city two years ago—but crime has returned full force. The murder rate in the Big Easy is rocketing, crime is a constant fear among citizens and many are arming themselves for protection, Reuters reports.  

Drug dealers fight turf wars in the ruined neighborhoods, and criminals  are flooding New Orleans because the judicial system is in shambles. "This city's survival depends on getting a handle on violent crime," said one US attorney. "Katrina didn't create the problems we face today, although it certainly exacerbated them." (More New Orleans stories.)

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