The 1998 issue of freestyle magazine, dubbed “six shooter: you can’t tell me life was meant to be like this—a Black man in a world dominated by whiteness,” featured an article about the “New Orleans Sniper,” Mark Essex, called “The Significance of Mark Essex.” On Page 19, we have the following:
Essex began his one man guerilla war on New Years Eve 1972; and it ended a week later with a twelve hour shootout against police on top of a downtown New Orleans hotel. When it was all over, nine people were dead and nineteen wounded. Remaining true to his words and ideas, Essex never surrendered. He was only silenced by over 140 “law enforcement” officers that were positioned around the hotel as well as from a Marine helicopter, riddling his body with hundreds of rounds, blowing his tongue from his mouth.
In order to prepare for this interview, freestyle interviewed filmmaker Stanley Davis who was slated to release his film retelling this incredible series of events. The digital audio recordings available at right contain this telephone interview with the filmmaker.
Journalist Peter Hernon, his book, A Terrible Thunder, details the life and death of Mark Essex. A review of this book can be found at kintespace.com.