Katrina: Lawlessness

A soldier patrols the street next to a house fire in the Garden District of New Orleans, Sept. 6, 2005. Fires continue to break out across the flood-besieged city that has little running water, causing a fierce challenge for the New Orleans Fire Dept.

Leonard Thomas, 23, cries after a SWAT team burst into the flooded home in which he and his family were living, Sept. 5, 2005. Neighbors had reported that they were squatting in the house in the wake of Hurricane Katrina but the authorities left after his family proved they owned the house. Some rescuers are not taking any more food and water to those who have decided to stay, in an effort to force them out.

A prisoner is handcuffed as he is processed in New Orleans temporary jail, Sept. 5, 2005, in New Orleans.

Prisoners are seen in a holding cell in New Orleans' temporary jail, Sept. 5, 2005. The city's bus and train terminal has been converted into a booking and holding facility. It can house 700 prisoners.

Members of the Massachusetts Nation Guard's 181st Infantry Battalion, Bravo Company, pick up their gear to carry to a waiting truck on the grounds of the Massachusetts Military Reserve's Camp Edwards in Bourne, Mass., Sept. 5, 2005, before deploying to the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

A police officer, left, removes a child from a home as officers look for a man following a domestic dispute over some stolen items, Sept. 3, 2005, in Biloxi, Miss.

Sgt. Robert Stanley, of 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, from Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division, patrols the flooded streets of the French Quarter of New Orleans, Sept. 4, 2005.

A hand-painted sign outside a New Orleans business warns away looters in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Sept. 1, 2005. Ethicists and social psychologists said in interviews that rules of human behavior, including respect for others' property and for social order itself, dissolve quickly in desperate circumstances like the storm's aftermath.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Donnie Turner guards a phone company's downtown office in New Orleans, Sept. 1, 2005. Following Hurricane Katrina New Orleans has been the scene of looting and reports of sporadic violence.

A heavily armed Coast Guard sailor maintains a vigil around the facility in New Orleans, Sept. 1, 2005. The facility is under heavy guard after incidents of rampant looting and a general breakdown of society following Hurricane Katrina.

Earl Baker holds armfuls of hygiene products he took from the shelves of a pharmacy in New Orleans, Sept. 1, 2005. Area residents have been looting the store, many explaining that they have no other way to get necessities in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

A SWAT team drives past flood victims waiting at the Convention Center in New Orleans, Sept. 1, 2005.

A New Orleans police officer keeps watch over a section of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Sept. 1, 2005.

A Rite Aid Drug Store in New Orleans had its front door pried open by someone driving a forklift, Aug. 31, 2005. Police officers came by a short time later and stopped at the drug store but did little to stop the looters who were taking food from the store.

Looters drive off with a trunk full of beer after raiding a Rite Aid Drug Store in New Orlean, Aug. 31, 2005.

Art Depodesta stands outside his restaurant and bar armed with a shotgun to thwart potential looters during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the Uptown section of New Orleans Aug. 30, 2005. Depodesta said he was forced to fire over the heads of looters earlier in the day.

New Orleans Police Officer M. Wilson speaks to a resident on Canal Street, Aug. 30, 2005, in New Orleans.

Looters make off with merchandise from several downtown businesses in New Orleans, Aug. 30, 2005, after Hurricane Katrina hit the area.

A young man walks through chest-deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans, Aug. 30, 2005.

A woman walks through chest-deep water as she heads to loot a grocery store in New Orleans, Aug. 30, 2005, as floodwaters continue to rise.