At least 10 people were killed and 30 or more injured when a truck intentionally drove at high speed into a large crowd at Canal and Bourbon streets in New Orleans’ French Quarter early Wednesday, city officials said.
Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said at a televised news conference that the driver intentionally drove into the crowd around 3:15 a.m. “This man was trying to run over as many people as possible,” Kirkpatrick said. “He was hell-bent on creating the carnage and damage he caused.
Kirkpatrick said the driver fired at police and struck two officers after his vehicle crashed. She said more than 300 police officers were on duty at the time of the incident. She said the FBI would take over the investigation.
“There was a terrible act of violence this morning on Bourbon Street,” Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said on X, urging people to stay away from the area where the attack took place.
The injured were taken to at least five different hospitals, according to NOLA Ready, the city’s emergency preparedness department.
The incident occurred at the intersection of Canal and Bourbon streets during New Year’s Eve celebrations, the city said in a statement. Bourbon Street is a historic tourist destination in the city’s French Quarter, known for drawing large crowds for its music and bars.
The couple told CBS News they heard a crash coming from the street and then saw a white truck smash through the barricade “at a high rate of speed.”
New Orleans has seen shootings and cars crash into crowds at past parades.
In November 2024, two people were killed and 10 others wounded in two separate shootings along a New Orleans parade and celebration attended by thousands, local media reported.
In February 2017, a pickup truck driven by a man who police said appeared to be heavily intoxicated plowed into a crowd of spectators watching the main Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, injuring more than 20 people.
