As early as the 8th of September, some very few media outlets were reporting that the previously reported rapes and murders at the SuperDome were likely ficticious. I noted this at that time.
Now?
Following days of internationally reported murders, rapes and gang violence inside the stadium, the doctor from FEMA — [Louisiana National Guard Col. Thomas] Beron doesn’t remember his name — came prepared for a grisly scene: He brought a refrigerated 18-wheeler and three doctors to process bodies.
“I’ve got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome,” Beron recalled the doctor saying.
The real total?
Six, Beron said.
Of those, four died of natural causes, one overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide, said Beron, who personally oversaw the handoff of bodies from a Dome freezer, where they lay atop melting bags of ice.
No murders. Rapes? Well I still don’t know about that. I have not yet seen any reported rapes, but I recognize that this is an oft unreported crime.
However, it seems somewhat likely to me that the situation at the SuperDome would actually help prevent serious crimes (at least until it became very clear that survival was unlikely under any circumstances). Why? The location was pretty isolated, running away isn’t much of an option. I would also wager that being able to hide is out of the question. You’re surrounded by tens-of-thousands of pissed off people. Would you consider committing a major personal crime when you have no chance to run, no place to hide, and a ton of people who would like nothing more than a really good reason to unleash the fury caused by several days of misery? If you did, you’d better be damn sure that you can defend yourself. Otherwise there will be some good, old-fashioned vigilante justice and you will likely find yourself strung up by your balls.
But that’s just my opinion. I couldn’t be any more wrong than the initial and most subsequent press accounts.
