The areas hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina are unfortunately also those hardest hit by looters while the police trying to stop them in New Orleans came under attack when two men with AK-47s opened fire on their police station.

Fox News reporter Jeff Goldblatt said two men with automatic weapons opened fire on a downtown New Orleans police station late Tuesday in an apparent retaliation against an officer who tried to stop looters earlier in the day from carting off clothes and jewelry from stores in the area.

As conditions deteriorated on the Gulf Coast, with no electricity, no water, and rising flood waters, looters were running wild in the streets, first looting grocery stores and later pharmacies, clothing and jewelry stores.

"It's downtown Baghdad," a tourist in downtown New Orleans said. "It's insane. I've wanted to come here for 10 years. I thought this was a sophisticated city. I guess not."

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said looting would not be tolerated in his state and that looters would be dealt with "ruthlessly," but with no electricity in the areas hardest hit and communication systems down, police and National Guard units were hampered in their efforts to stop the lawlessness.

A Matter of Survival

But some of the "looting" was a matter of survival. One report said a manager of a Wal-Mart opened the doors of his store and told residents to take anything they needed.

At a drug store near the French Quarter in New Orleans, two police officers with shotguns stood guard as workers from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel across the street loaded large laundry bins full of medications, snack foods and bottled water.

"This is for the sick," Officer Jeff Jacob said. "We can commandeer whatever we see fit, whatever is necessary to maintain law." Officer D.J. Butler told the crowd standing around that they would leave as soon as they got the necessities. "I'm not saying you're welcome to it," the officer said. "This is the situation we're in. We have to make the best of it."

See Also:
Crisis Grows As Flooded New Orleans Looted
Some Opportunists Help Themselves in New Orleans
Looting Reported in Biloxi, New Orleans
Martial Law in New Orleans?