I more easily believe that the story is totally made up. Our armed forces are trained better than that. Besides, to point the laser they would have to be aiming their rifle. Which, I think, would be a much better story. ie the photo of Elian Gonzalez being taken from the home.
I feel so sorry for the children that were stuck in NO because their stupid caretakers didn't get off their arses and leave. I went through the missing children photos almost daily, and most of the children missing got "separated from their caretakers" in their description of circumstances. That also made me wonder if the caretakers somehow saved themselves and not the children they were responsible for. I also wondered where the parents were.
To be fair, it was reported that there were instances of Rescue workers demanding that all babies and little ones be passed overhead to be the first on rescue vehicles.
I wondered at the time how any breathing, thinking, parent would allow a child out of their grasp like that.
I suspect that there was mass hysteria and I suspect that many of those hysterical folks were on the lower end of the educational scale. That is a recipe for disaster.
None of this makes the situation any less sad.
That also made me wonder if the caretakers somehow saved themselves and not the children they were responsible for.
It would appear that many tried to save neither themselves nor the children in their care. Unfathomable.