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New Year’s Eve Tragedy in New Orleans: Here’s What We Know

New Year’s Eve Tragedy in New Orleans: Here’s What We Know

At least 10 people were killed and 30 or more injured when a the truck drove into a large crowd Wednesday in New Orleans’ French Quarter, city officials said.

At about 3:15 a pickup truck pulled in New yearrevelers along Canal Street and Bourbon Street.

One couple told CBS News they heard crashing sounds coming from the street and then saw a white truck hit the barricade “at high speed.”

Driver ‘fierce in carnage’ kills 10, injures 30 in New Orleans’ French Quarter

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New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said that after his vehicle crashed, the driver fired at police and hit two officers. She said there were more than 300 officers on duty at the time of the incident.

She added that the condition of the two policemen shot was stable. The injured were taken to at least five different hospitals, according to NOLA Ready, the city’s emergency preparedness department.

Kirkpatrick said at a televised news conference that the driver intentionally drove into the crowd.

“This man was trying to run over as many people as he could,” Kirkpatrick said. “He was very determined to cause the carnage and destruction that he did.”

The services did not publicly disclose the driver’s identity. Officials did not immediately provide an update on the driver’s status, whether there was an ongoing danger to the public, or provide a suspected motive for the deadly incident that occurred early Wednesday morning at the city’s famous Canal and Bourbon Streets.

At a news conference, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the killings as a “terrorist attack,” but an FBI deputy agent said it was “not a terrorist event.” The press conference ended before the authorities could reconcile these two characterizations.

Kirkpatrick said the FBI would take over the investigation.

Bourbon Street is historic tourist destination in the city’s French Quarter, known for drawing crowds with its music and bars. It is known all over the world as one of the largest places for New Year’s Eve parties. Later on New Year’s Day, the city will also host the Sugar Bowl college football playoff game at the nearby Superdome.

No. 2 seed Georgia and No. 5 seed Notre Dame clash in New Orleans while the Sugar Bowl hosts quarterfinal match in the league’s first 12-team College Football Playoff. At stake is the semifinal at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

Kirkpatrick said police officers will be working to ensure safety at the Sugar Bowl, noting the game will go on as scheduled.

Local media reported that in November 2024, two people were killed and 10 others were injured in two separate shootings that occurred along the route of a New Orleans parade and celebration attended by thousands of people.

In February 2017, a pickup truck driven by a man who police said was under the influence of alcohol drove into a crowd of spectators watching the main Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, injuring more than 20 people.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.