Since New Year's Day, when the police superintendent said he believed New Orleans' murder rate was under control, the city has logged six homicides, including five shooting deaths in a 14-hour span.

Three people were killed Wednesday and two early Thursday. The other was shot to death New Year's Day.

Police also were investigating the suspicious death of a woman but the case had not been ruled a homicide as of Thursday morning.

On Thursday, police said the recent killings were brazen acts, often happening in broad daylight and, in one case, within a block of police officers. No witnesses have yet come forward, and police begged them to do so. Officers say they believe many of the killings were retaliatory and committed by people with violent pasts, but they refused to go into further detail.

"They have no fear of repercussions," Assistant Superintendent Steven Nicholas said.

Nicholas said police are doing what they can, but he called on witnesses to come forward. In the past, police have cited the unwillingness of witnesses, who fear retaliation by criminals, as a roadblock to gaining convictions.

At a news conference on Monday, Police Superintendent Warren Riley detailed how homicides in the city spiked in April, May and July, but he said police brought the problem under control in recent months.

Police spokeswoman Bambi Hall said after 19 killings in October and another 19 in November, December's total was 15. There were 161 homicides in the city in 2006. New Orleans' murder rate was 7-10 times the national average for cities of its size in 2005, the latest period for which complete data is available.

Riley was not at Thursday's news conference; he was at a seminar in North Carolina on crime prevention and community involvement in police work.

National Guard troops were brought in to help patrol some neighborhoods after five teenagers were killed in one night in June 2006. The Guard focused on areas most devastated by Hurricane Katrina so police could focus on higher-crime areas. Their patrols are expected to continue this year.

Nicholas said he didn't expect the recent indictments of seven police officers, related to the shooting deaths of two people and wounding of four others after Katrina, to create friction between police and District Attorney Eddie Jordan.

He said Riley and Jordan have spoken and are working to target violent criminals and getting them off the street. "Those partnerships are well established," Nicholas said.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)