Seven suspended police officers in the southern U.S. city of New Orleans in the state of Louisiana have turned themselves in to local authorities, days after they were charged with shooting two people to death after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Hundreds of supporters and fellow police officers applauded the officers Tuesday as they arrived at the city jail.
A grand jury in New Orleans Thursday charged four officers with first-degree murder and the other three with attempted murder.
The grand jury rejected the police account of the shootings, which occurred on a bridge between flooded neighborhoods six days after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans.
The initial report said the officers were responding to a call that shots had been fired at rescue workers.
One of the people killed by police gunfire was a 40-year-old mentally retarded man. Four others were wounded in the incident.
After the indictments were handed up, District Attorney Eddie Jordan said New Orleans police can not be allowed to shoot and kill people, as he put it, "without justification, like rabid dogs."
Some information for this report was provided by AP.