Ten people are dead after a car slammed into a crowd in 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 stay away from the area as it was still an active scene. The FBI, however, initially said it was not clear that it was a terrorist event but that an improvised explosive device was found with the suspect. NBC News later reported that the FBI is now investigating this as “potential terrorism” before the FBI revealed they were investigating the mass casualty event as terrorism.
“This morning, an individual drove a car into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing a number of people and injuring dozens of others,” the FBI said in a statement after Wednesday’s press conference. “The subject then engaged with local law enforcement and is now deceased. The FBI is the lead investigative agency, and we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism.”
New Orleans Supreintendet of Police Anne Kirkpatrick said that the perpetrator exhibited “very intentional behavior” by slamming into the crowd “at a very fast pace” and that it was not a DUI, adding that the man shot at police officers after be crashed his vehicle, leaving two officers injured. Both officers that were shot are stable, according to Kirkpatrick.
“Last night, we had over 300 officers out here, and because of the intentional mindset of this perpetrator – who went around our barricades in order to conduct this. He was hellbent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did,” Kirkpatrick added. She added that most of the casualties appeared to be local residents of the city and not tourists. “This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could.”
Kirkpatrick noted that the FBI would be taking over the investigation of the attack.
“There were improvised explosive devices that was found, and we are working on confirming if it’s a viable device or not,” Alethea Duncan, Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the FBI’s New Orleans office, said on Wednesday morning.
At least 35 more are hurt, officials say. Witness accounts recalled a speeding truck crashing into a crowd before the driver got out and started firing a weapon, with police returning fire, CBS reported. The incident occured around 3:15 a.m. local time.
“President Biden has been briefed on the horrific news that a driver killed and injured dozens of individuals in New Orleans overnight and the White House has been in touch with New Orleans Mayor Cantrell to offer support,” the White House said in a statement. “The FBI is already on the ground supporting local law enforcement in the investigation and the President will continue to be briefed throughout the day.”
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry has described it as a “horrific act of violence” and urged “all near the scene to avoid the area.” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) called the incident “tragic,” adding that he wanted to “give thanks for the police officers responding. Remember the wounded and dead and their families.”
“Many of us woke up this morning to devastating news of the brutal intentional slaughter of innocent people celebrating the New Year in New Orleans,” Louisiana Attorney general Liz Murrill tweeted. “I’m praying for the victims and their families and will ensure they get justice for this appalling act.”
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NOLA Ready, the department responsible for emergency preparedness in New Orleans, said responders were attending a “mass casualty incident involving a vehicle that drove into a large crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street.” It confirmed the casualty toll.
Footage circulating online, which appears to show the aftermath of the incident, shows multiple lying on the floor as people run from the area.
NOLA Ready asked people to stay away from the area in a post on X. “There has been a mass casualty incident on Canal and Bourbon Street. Get yourself away from the area,” it wrote.
Famous for its nightlife, Bourbon Street was still teeming with revelers celebrating New Year’s Eve when the vehicle drove into the crowd early Wednesday morning. Additionally, the violent incident occurred while New Orleans was just hours away from hosting the AllState Sugar Bowl in the Superdome, which draws tens of thousands of college football fans from across the country.
New Orleans police said earlier this week that it would be staffed up “at 100 percent” for the celebratory festivities and the NCAA college football playoff game between Georgia and Notre Dame, adding that it called in 300 additional officers from partner law enforcement departments. It noted at the time that the department would have “a strong presence of marked and unmarked police vehicles, as well as officers on foot, bike, and horseback.”
One person who says they witnessed the incident described it on social media as the “most horrific thing I’ve ever seen.” They said they saw a “truck crashing through the barricades” before seeing it “run into a crowd” and “people flying as it hit them.”
“All I seen was a truck slamming into everyone on the left side of Bourbon sidewalk,” another witness told CNN shortly after the incident, saying he heard gunshots being 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,” witness Whit Davis also told CNN. “When they finally let us out of the club, police waved us where to walk and were telling us to get out of the area fast. I saw a few dead bodies they couldn’t even cover up and tons of people receiving first aid.”
New Orleans Emergency Medical Services (NOEMS) have transported the casualties to University Medical Center, Touro Hospital, East Jefferson General Hospital, Ochsner Medical Center Jefferson Campus and Ochsner Baptist Campus.
Crowds gathered to attend an open-air concert and the New Year’s countdown downtown and in the French Quarter, the most famous neighborhood in the state of Louisiana. While parties featuring drag performances and danging took place on Bourbon Street, which is near where the attack occurred, other celebrations were aimed at college football fans who came to the city for the Sugar Bowl — including a parade that had taken place on New Year’s Eve.
“The Sugar Bowl Committee is devastated by the terrible events from early this morning,” Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We are in ongoing discussions with authorities on the local, state, and federal levels and will communicate further details as they become available.”
The intersection of Canal and Bourbon streets is one of the gateways to the French Quarter, and Canal is a major thoroughfare that extends from the Mississippi River a few blocks away all the way to Lake Pontchartrain and connects neighborhoods in between. Parallel to Bourbon are all the other entryways into the Quarter, and most are pretty busy but especially packed on New Year’s Eve — rivalled only by Mardi Gras day in terms of how people are stuffed in there. Traffic in that downtown area is a nightmare during big events.
The city installed protective bollards at several intersections through Bourbon, making it partially pedestrian only, but those heavy duty bollards were not installed at the Canal entrance. Law enforcement said the driver plowed through barricades but those are probably just NOPD’s.
The New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans comes two weeks after a driver rammed into a crowd of shoppers at a busy German Christmas market, leaving five people dead and hundred more injured.
In that incident, a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia killed four women and a nine-year-old boy after he plowed his car through a market in the German city of Magdgeburg. Over 40 others were criticially injured in that attack. The assailant, idenitifed as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, had been in Germany since 2006 and reportedly sympathized with the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
More to follow on this breaking news story....
