Multiple reports of casualties in New Orleans were emerging early New Year's Day after news outlets indicated a car drove into a group of revelers on Bourbon Street.
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UPDATE: New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has released initial information on the ramming attack that killed 10 people early on New Year’s Day on Bourbon Street.
“We do know that the city of New Orleans was impacted by a terrorist attack,” Cantrell said, noting the incident is still under investigation with the FBI now involved.
Witnesses reported a truck was driven into the crowd at high speed and then the driver got out and started firing a weapon with police returning fire.
CBS News reports the FBI immediately responded to the claim of a “terrorist attack.”
An FBI official who spoke along with the other officials Wednesday morning did not characterize it that way.
The officials did not provide any information about the man who drove the truck, and his condition and whereabouts were not immediately clear.
New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell makes a statement after a driver intentionally smashed his vehicle into revelers on New Orleans’ Canal and Bourbon Street, Wednesday Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Anne Kirkpatrick, superintendent of police, said the driver had attempted to kill as many people as possible. She said he exited the vehicle and fired on police, ABC News reports.
“This man was trying to run over as many people as he could,” said Kirkpatrick, adding two police officers hit by gunfire but were in a stable condition.
EARLIER REPORT FOLLOWS:
Multiple reports of mass casualties in New Orleans were emerging early New Year’s Day after news outlets indicated a driver rammed his pickup truck into a group of revelers on Bourbon Street.
The identity of the driver or possible motive(s) has not been made public by local police.
Ten people were killed and 30 injured after the incident in the historic French Quarter, according to NOLA Ready, the city’s emergency preparedness agency.
The injured had been taken to five local hospitals.
At around 3:15 a.m. the vehicle, described as an SUV, reportedly drove headlong into pedestrians at the intersection between Bourbon Street and Iberville, WGNO reported.
Videos circulating on social media that appear to have been recorded Wednesday at the scene of the mass casualty incident show multiple casualties on the ground.
Gunfire can be heard in the background and people can be seen running from the area, the BBC reports.
After ramming the crowd, the suspected driver reportedly jumped out of a truck and began firing a weapon, CBS News reported.
A spokesman for the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) said “initial reports show a car may have ploughed into a group of people,” adding: “Injuries are unknown but there are reported fatalities.”
WLTV had a reporter on the spot soon after:
The incident came toward the end of New Year’s celebrations in New Orleans and hours before the kickoff of the AllState Bowl, a college football quarterfinal held in the city’s Caesars Superdome, with thousands expected to be in attendance.
More to come…
