(Reuters) – At least 10 people were killed and 30 or more injured when a truck plowed into a large crowd at Canal and Bourbon Streets in New Orleans' French Quarter at high speed early on Wednesday, city officials said.
Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said in a televised news conference that the driver deliberately drove into the crowd at 3:15 a.m. “This man was trying to run over as many people as possible,” Kirkpatrick said. “He was determined to cause the carnage and damage he caused.”
Kirkpatrick said the driver fired shots at police and hit two officers after his vehicle crashed. He said more than three hundred officers were on duty at the time of the incident. He said the FBI would take over the investigation.
“A terrible act of violence occurred on Bourbon Street early this morning,” 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 happened at the intersection of Canal and Bourbon streets during New Year's Eve, the city said in a statement. Bourbon Street is a historic tourist area in the city's French Quarter, known for attracting large crowds for its music and bars.
The couple told CBS News they heard a crash from down the street and then saw a white truck plow through a barrier “at a high rate of speed”.
New Orleans has seen shootings and cars crash into crowds on the front lines.
In November 2024, two people were killed and 10 others were injured in two separate shootings on New Orleans' parade route and a celebration attended by thousands, local media reported.
In February 2017, a truck driven by a man who police said appeared to be heavily intoxicated plowed into a crowd of spectators watching a large Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, injuring more than 20 people.