‘The screams, you can’t unhear that’: New Orleans revelry ends in shock and mourning in night of horror

Matthias Hauswirth of New Orleans prays on the street near the scene where a truck plowed into New Year’s Eve revelers on New Year’s Eve, killing at least 14, in a suspected terrorist attack. - (AP Phot/George Walker IV)

The city of New Orleans is in shock. Bartenders, musicians and hospitality workers who keep the city running are grieving and nervous. French Quarter residents packed into the historic neighborhood are navigating life in an active crime scene.

A suspected terrorist attack has shaken a city that was primed to celebrate the new year with the weeks-long Carnival season leading up to Mardi Gras — with the Super Bowl crammed right in the middle of it — that’s scheduled to kick off within days. But first, thousands of people in town for the Sugar Bowl joined locals celebrating New Year’s Eve into the early morning hours Wednesday.