Kriti Mehrotra
It was in 2005 when everything turned upside down for New Orleans, Louisiana, native Donnell Herrington as he not only lost his home during Hurricane Katrina but also nearly his life. However, the latter had no connection with the natural disaster turned city-wide tragedy because he was actually shot at in the Algiers Point neighborhood while trying to evacuate the city. He has not been very public about his ordeal over the past two decades, but he did recently open up on Netflix’s ‘Katrina: Come Hell and High Water,’ making us wonder more about him.
Donnell Herrington Was Trying to Escape His Flooded City When He Was Shot
As a resident of the 7th Ward neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the mid-2000s, Donnell Herrington was extremely proud of the deep roots his family had established there. Even his grandparents were reportedly proud natives of the area, yet despite all that they had been able to do for themselves, their home, as well as their family, evacuation was not an option for them. Therefore, when the alarms about Hurricane Katrina rang, they decided to hunker down and ride it out like they had many storms before, unaware of what was to follow.
The tropical cyclone made landfall in Louisiana on August 29, 2005, and while the rainy winds were 175 miles per hour, the breaking of the nearby levees is what flooded the city soon after. According to Donnell’s own accounts, his home was several feet underwater by the next morning, and he still remembers the grief on his grandparents’ faces because they thought this would mark the end of their time in New Orleans. Nevertheless, they managed to get out of their area safely, only for the young man to then hear that ferries were allegedly helping in the evacuation of stranded individuals all the way in Algiers Point.
Donnell thus chose to make his way there alongside his 17-year-old cousin Marcel Alexander and his 18-year-old friend Chris Collins to see if it was really true and if they could help them. The three black men managed to enter the area without any issues on September 1 and were walking to the port when Donnell suddenly fell forward as a gunshot rang out. As per his statements, he was in immense pain but managed to open his eyes, only to see a man with a shotgun aimed at him and his companions before firing again. Donnell was hit on the back of his neck, so he could do nothing but stumble away.
Donnell Herrington Leads a Quiet Life Today
According to Donnell, he stumbled from the scene as quickly as he could to save himself until he was in the corner of the next block. That’s when he collapsed on the porch of a house, the residents of which were a black couple who immediately rushed him to the West Jefferson Hospital to be treated for his wounds. While he was recovering, he learned Algiers Point is a predominantly white area, the residents of which had allegedly taken it upon themselves to protect their neighborhood. According to police records, some locals considered themselves “vigilantes,” so they barricaded and patrolled their streets with weapons in hand out of fear of being looted or harmed by the black residents fleeing other areas. A man named Roland Bourgeois Jr. was one such individual. He shot Donnell after opening fire at him and his companions, all of whom were black men.
As per records, after the September 1 shooting that occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he reportedly shouted racial slurs before adding, “Anything coming up this street darker than a brown paper bag is getting shot.” It took years, but Roland was eventually arrested for his offenses, and in 2018, he pleaded guilty to one count each of use of a weapon in a violent crime as well as hate crime. In February 2019, the father of two was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, finally bringing the matter of Donnell’s shooting to a close. Reportedly, Roland passed away on February 19, 2019, just a few days post his sentencing. Since then, the survivor has preferred to stay well away from the limelight, yet it appears as if he is currently leading a happy, healthy life in the West Bank area of his home state. Honestly, we wish him nothing but the best for all his present and future endeavors.
