NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Multiple people are dead after a pickup truck plowed into a group of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans early on New Year’s Day, the New Orleans Police Department said.
New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell called the incident a “terrorist attack” during a press conference on Wednesday. But Alethea Duncan, an assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans field office, said at the same conference that this was “not a terrorist attack.”
Duncan, however, said officials were investigating what appeared to be at least one improvised explosive device.
The news conference ended before authorities could reconcile the two characterizations.
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New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick also stated that the incident was intentional.
“He was hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did,” Kirkpatrick said. “It was very intentional behavior. This man was trying to run over as many people as he could.”
Emergency services attend the scene after a vehicle drove into a crowd on New Orleans’ Canal and Bourbon Street, Wednesday Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The mass casualty incident took place around 3:15 a.m. at the corner of Bourbon and Iberville streets. As of Wednesday morning at 6 a.m., the New Orleans Police Department reported 10 fatalities with possibly 30 others injured.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the driver drove around the barricades to conduct the act, said Kirkpatrick.
Additionally, Kirkpatrick reported two officers were shot during the incident.
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EMS is currently on the scene. A portion of Bourbon Street remains shut down, according to the NOPD.
“A horrific act of violence took place on Bourbon Street earlier this morning. Please join Sharon and I in praying for all the victims and first responders on scene,” said Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry. “I urge all near the scene to avoid the area.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report. This is a developing story.