A A driver drove his truck at high speed into a crowd in New Orleans’ French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, then opened fire, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 35, city officials and police said. Went.
“This guy was trying to run over as many people as he could,” Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said in a televised press conference Wednesday. “He was bent on carrying out genocide and the resulting damage.”
The city said in a statement that the incident happened at the intersection of Canal and Bourbon Streets at 3:15 a.m. during New Year’s Eve celebrations. Bourbon Street is a historic tourist destination in the city’s French Quarter, known for attracting large crowds with its concerts and bars.
Kirkpatrick said the driver fired shots at police after the vehicle crashed and hit two police officers. He said that the condition of the officers is stable.
He said more than 300 officers were on duty at the time of the incident. The city hosts the Sugar Bowl, a classic American college football game, each New Year’s Day.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell called the incident a “terrorist attack”, but an FBI official denied this.
Althea Duncan, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans field office, said: “This is not a terrorist incident.” Duncan said a suspected improvised explosive device had been found and the FBI was working to determine whether it was viable.
Verified video taken by a bystander shows at least two mutilated bodies on the road, one of which appears to be lying in a pool of blood. A bystander can be seen kneeling over a dead body, while a group of military personnel in green uniforms running away carrying firearms.
“There was a terrible act of violence on Bourbon Street this morning,” Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said on Twitter. He urged people to stay away from the area where the attack took place.
The injured were taken to at least five different hospitals, according to Nola Redi, the city’s emergency preparedness department.
President Joe Biden’s White House said it has been in touch with the mayor to offer support.
A couple told CBS News they heard crashing sounds in the road and then saw a white truck crash into the barricade “at a high rate of speed.”
Previous parades in New Orleans have experienced shootings and car crashes into the crowd.
In November 2024, two people were killed and 10 injured in two separate shootings along the New Orleans parade route and a celebration attended by thousands of people, local media reported.
In February 2017, police said a man was extremely intoxicated and drove a pickup truck into a crowd of spectators watching the main Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, injuring more than 20 people.
