In New Orleans, Louisiana, a pickup truck struck a crowd, killing at least 10 people and injuring 30 others, according to local police.
Following Wednesday’s incident on Canal and Bourbon Street, the New Orleans emergency preparedness programme, or NOLA Ready, advised people to stay away from the area.
Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told reporters, “It did involve a man driving a pickup truck down Bourbon Street at a very fast pace. It was very intentional behavior.”
She continued, “This man was trying to run over as many people as he could possible… it wasn’t a DUI situation.” Kirkpatrick revealed that two police officers were shot by the perpetrator, noting that they were in “stable” condition.
Earlier, CBS News, citing witnesses, reported that a truck had crashed into the crowd at high speed, and then the driver got out and started firing a weapon, with police returning fire.
The incident, according to the mayor of New Orleans, was a “terrorist attack.”
Earlier, the New Orleans police said they were responding to the “mass casualty incident”, including deaths.
A vehicle that struck a large crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street is currently the subject of a mass casualty incident. There are 30 injured patients … and 10 fatalities”, NOLA Ready said in a statement.
Video obtained of the mass shooting in New Orleans, Bourbon Street. pic. twitter.com/sVIDSwpRhO
After gunshots ring out, videos that were shared online and verified by Al Jazeera show people fleeing the scene of the incident to safety.
The governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, urged people to stay away from the area where the attack took place, on Bourbon Street earlier this morning, according to a statement from the governor of Louisiana, on X.
According to NOLA Ready, the injured have been transported to at least five different hospitals.
The incident occurred just before the New Year’s Eve celebrations in New Orleans kicked off the Allstate Bowl, a college football quarterfinal held in the city’s Caesars Superdome, with thousands of people expected to be there.
At previous parades, there have been shootings and collisions between cars and crowds in New Orleans.
In two separate shootings along a parade route and celebration in New Orleans that were attended by thousands of people in November 2024, two people were killed and ten others were hurt, according to local media.
More than 20 people were hurt when a pickup truck driven by a man who police said appeared to be heavily intoxicated crashed into a crowd of spectators in New Orleans during the main Mardi Gras parade, injuring the crowd.
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