According to some sources, Federal investigators are looking into persistent claims that white men engaged in racially fueled vigilantism in New Orleans in the days after Hurricane Katrina.

Incidents being investigated include the Sept. 1, 2005, near-fatal shooting of African-American Donnell Herrington, 33, in the Algiers Point neighborhood.

A group of armed white men attacked him and his companions without cause, Herrington had said.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the investigation by department attorneys and FBI agents, the (New Orleans) Times-Picayune and ProPublica reported on Monday.

The Times-Picayune said that while no one has been charged in the shooting, at least two people have provided information implicating neighborhood resident Roland Bourgeois Jr., 47, who is said to be living in Mississippi with his mother. . The newspaper also said that Bourgeois declined to comment.

After Katrina, 15 to 30 armed locals allegedly barricaded streets and were patrolling the Algiers Point area. Some residents said they were protecting their homes from criminals.

Clyde Price III said, "There's no black and white issue here."

She saw Bourgeois celebrating shooting someone, Terri Benjamin, who lived in Algiers Point at the time, said.

Benjamin, who testified before a grand jury last month, said, "My neighbor was jumping up and down, hootin' and hollerin' like he was big game hunting and he got the big one. All of his friends were rallying him on, and they were cheering."

She later went to Bourgeois to ask him to not harm her relatives who are black, Benjamin, who is of white, Latino and African-American descent, said.

Benjamin, who has since moved out of state, said, "He said, anything coming up that street darker than a brown paper bag is getting shot.'" (With Inputs from Agencies)