Officials lack evidence of any shots fired at helicopters

Confusion still surrounds reports that gunfire forced operations to pause.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
NEW ORLEANS -- Among the rumors that spread as quickly as floodwaters after Hurricane Katrina, reports that gunmen were taking potshots at rescue helicopters stood out for their senselessness.
On Sept. 1, as patients sweltered in hospitals without power and thousands of people remained stranded on rooftops and in attics, crucial rescue efforts were delayed as word of such attacks spread.
But more than a month later, representatives from the Air Force, Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security and Louisiana Air National Guard say they have yet to confirm a single incident of gunfire at helicopters.
Likewise, members of several rescue crews who were told to halt operations say there is no evidence they were under fire.
To be sure, the streets of New Orleans posed real dangers in the days following Katrina. Many rescue workers said they heard gunfire; one doctor reports that shots came close enough to Charity Hospital that he heard the bullets hit.
But so many rumors were swirling that the facts still haven't been sorted out. A picture is emerging of heroic but harried rescue workers from dozens of organizations forced to make snap decisions with only slender threads of information and no reliable communications.
The storm created so much confusion that government officials cannot even agree on whether they ever issued an order to halt flights or other rescue efforts.
Sometimes the mere rumor that they had was enough.
Director's decision
On the morning of Sept. 1, Mike Sonnier was directing rescue helicopters at his company, Acadian Ambulance, when one of his pilots called to say the military had suspended flights after gunfire was reported in the air near the Louisiana Superdome.
Should he continue rescuing sick evacuees, leaving his pilots and medics at risk -- or suspend his company's flights?
Sonnier immediately shut down flights.
"Until I can confirm that this did happen or didn't happen, it's not a chance that I can take," he said.
Sonnier said that when he checked with the National Guard about two hours later, he was told it was OK to fly. At that point Acadian resumed operations. Even today, it's not clear whether a military order to stop flying was ever actually made.
Reports persisted throughout the day of helicopters in the cross hairs, part of the image of a city under siege that was spreading across the nation.
"Hospitals are trying to evacuate," a Coast Guard spokeswoman at the city emergency operations center told The Associated Press. "At every one of them, there are reports that as the helicopters come in, people are shooting at them."
But that initial report proved hard to confirm. Two Coast Guard spokesmen who were asked in recent days about helicopter shootings said there were no incidents of any Coast Guard personnel or vehicles taking fire.
"We don't know of any shots ever fired directly at us," said Capt. Bob Mueller, commander of the Guard's New Orleans station. "But there were a number of reports of shots fired in the air. There were two occasions where all helos were directed to land. I believe those orders came from the Superdome. Our flatboats did stand down Sept. 1."