A New Orleans man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in addition to five years of supervised release after his guilty plea of shooting three black young men as they tried to evacuate during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Roland J. Bourgeois Jr., 55, pleaded guilty to shooting the three men because they were black and entered his neighborhood to reach evacuation sites shortly after the hurricane. He along with other white residents decided to stop "outsiders" from entering the Algiers Point neighborhood: "Anything coming up this street darker than a brown paper bag is getting shot," Bourgeois told a neighbor.
The three victims sustained several gunshot wounds in the arms, neck, back and legs.
Bourgeois was first indicted in 2010 but was repeatedly pronounced incompetent to stand trial.
