IACSP Journal

Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International

New Orleans, Louisiana, January 8, 1973. A sharpshooting, police counter sniper is on the upper level of a building across from the hotel. He is on the lookout for signs of what might be a second sniper. This other building, with the police counter sniper, overlooked the Howard Johnson’s hotel. The Marine Boeing CH-46 Sea Knight is seen to the left of the hotel. Photo courtesy of The New Orleans Times – Picayune, The New Orleans Advocate
LAW ENFORCEMENT 

Counter Sniper Response to the Terrifying Nature of Sniper and Active Shooter Ambushes: New Orleans and the Chinook

admin 1226 Views

By Jim Weiss and Mickey Davis

Home hardcore, bad-guy active shooters and snipers are self-trained. They have planned, prepared, and are formidable in their attacks. In New Orleans on December 31, 1972 and January 7, 1973, one such killer was Mark James Robert Essex. His actions were driven by a hatred of white people and white police officers.

With all the hatred-driven current shootings, assaults, looting, and attacks on police and businesses, this topic is relevant to today’s law enforcement officers.

During the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached non-violence. Yet there were other elements at play as crime and violence marked the 1960s and 1970s. Examples include rioting in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963; the Watts Riots in southern Los Angeles in 1965 in which, according to the Los Angeles Times, about 75 people—including 13 police officers—were injured and dozens of buildings were burned. Other incidents occurred in Chicago in 1966; in Tampa, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Newark, Plainfield, New Brunswick, and Detroit in 1967; and in more than 110 cities in 1968 including the night Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated by a sniper.

During the counter police and government attacks of that turbulent time, many citizens and police officers were killed or injured. In New Orleans one of the most notable shootouts happened in September 1970 between the New Orleans chapter of the Black Panther Party and a number of law enforcement agencies as...