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NEW ORLEANS — At least 10 people were killed and 35 injured early Wednesday after a truck tore through Bourbon Street where crowds were celebrating the arrival of the New Year.
The driver of the truck was killed after a shootout with police in which two officers were wounded, New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said.
“It was very intentional behavior,” Kirkpatrick said. “This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could. It was not a DUI situation.”
At around 3:15 a.m., the driver of the truck steered around bollards meant to keep vehicles off of Bourbon Street and sped into a crowd, Kirkpatrick said.
“He was hellbent on creating the carnage,” the police said.
The FBI is leading the investigation and looking into what they believe to be an improvised explosive device, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Aletha Duncan said. Although New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the incident as a terrorist attack, Duncan said that was not yet the case.
An eight-block stretch of Bourbon Street remains closed to traffic, and some hotels in the French Quarter have been evacuated as a precautionary measure, WVUE-TV Fox 8 is reporting. The public is being asked to avoid a large portion of the historic neighborhood, which typically sees crowds larger than typical weekends for New Year’s Eve.
The city is also hosting fans of the University of Georgia and Notre Dame for the Sugar Bowl, scheduled for Wednesday night at the Superdome.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
#BREAKING
NEW YEAR’S TRAGEDY ON BOURBON ST:
Driver drove into the crowd along the street and gun fire erupted around 3 a.m.
— Andrés Fuentes (@news_fuentes) January 1, 2025