A federal jury on Friday convicted five current or former police officers in the deadly shootings on a New Orleans bridge after Hurricane Katrina.
Former officer Robert Faulcon, Sgts. Robert Gisevius and Kenneth Bowen, Officer Anthony Villavaso and retired Sgt. Arthur Kaufman were convicted of charges stemming from the cover-up of the shootings. All but Kaufman were convicted of civil rights violations stemming from the shootings. Kaufman, who investigated the shootings, was charged only in the cover-up.
However, the jury didn't find that the shootings amounted to murder.
The mother of 17-year-old James Brissette, one of the people killed on the bridge, said she was relieved by the verdict after "a long, hard six years." But she was puzzled that the jury could conclude her son wasn't murdered.
"How are you able to empty a shotgun in the person and it's not murder?" Sherrel Johnson said.