Ten people were killed after a car slammed into a crowd on New Orleans’ popular Bourbon Street during New Year’s Day celebrations.
In a press conference on Wednesday morning, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the incident as a “terrorist attack,” urging residents to avoid the area because it was still active.
However, the FBI stated that it was unclear whether the incident was a terrorist attack, but that an improvised explosive device was discovered with the suspect.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick stated that the perpetrator exhibited “very intentional behavior” by slamming into the crowd and that it was not a DUI, adding that the man shot at police officers after crashing his vehicle, injuring two officers. According to Kirkpatrick, both officers who were shot are in stable condition.
“He was hellbent on creating the carnage and damage that he did,” Kirkpatrick added.
According to officials, at least 30 more people have been hurt. According to witnesses, a speeding truck collided with a crowd before the driver exited and began firing a weapon, prompting police to return fire, CBS reported. The incident occurred at approximately 3:15 a.m. local time.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry called it a “horrific act of violence” and urged “all near the scene to avoid the area.”
NOLA Ready, New Orleans’ emergency preparedness department, reported that responders were on the scene of a “mass casualty incident involving a vehicle that drove into a large crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street.” It confirmed the casualty count.
Footage circulating online appears to show the aftermath of the incident, with multiple people lying on the ground as they flee the scene.
NOLA Ready requested that people avoid the area in a post on X. “There was a mass casualty incident on Canal and Bourbon Street. “Get yourself away from the area,” it advised.
Bourbon Street, famous for its nightlife, was still packed with New Year’s Eve revelers when the vehicle crashed into them early Wednesday morning. Furthermore, the violent incident occurred just hours before New Orleans hosted the AllState Sugar Bowl in the Superdome, which attracts tens of thousands of college football fans from all over the country.
New Orleans police said earlier this week that they would be “at 100 percent” staffed for the celebrations and the NCAA college football playoff game between Georgia and Notre Dame, and that they had called in 300 more officers from partner law enforcement agencies.
At the time, the department stated that it would have “a strong presence of marked and unmarked police vehicles, as well as officers on foot, bike, and horseback.”
One eyewitness described the incident on social media as the “most horrific thing I’ve ever seen.” They reported seeing a “truck crashing through the barricades” before witnessing it “run into a crowd” and “people flying as it hit them.”
“All I saw was a truck slamming into everyone on the left side of Bourbon sidewalk,” another witness told CNN shortly after the incident, adding that he heard gunshots fired. “A body came flying at me.”
“Everyone started yelling and screaming and running to the back, and then we basically went into lockdown for a little bit and then it calmed down but they wouldn’t let us leave,” a witness, Whit Davis, told CNN. “When they finally let us out of the club, police waved us where to go and told us to get out of there quickly.
I saw a few dead bodies that couldn’t even be covered up, as well as a large number of people receiving first aid.”
NOEMS (New Orleans Emergency Medical Services) transported the casualties to University Medical Center, Touro Hospital, East Jefferson General Hospital, Ochsner Medical Center Jefferson Campus, and Ochsner Baptist Campus.
