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NEW ORLEANS — At least 10 people were killed and 35 injured early Wednesday after a pickup truck tore through Bourbon Street where crowds were celebrating the arrival of the new year.
The driver of the truck was killed after a shootout with police in which two officers were wounded, New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said.
“It was very intentional behavior,” Kirkpatrick said. “This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could. It was not a DUI situation.”
The police officers who were shot were taken to a local hospital and were in stable condition, according to the police chief.
At around 3:15 a.m., the driver of the truck steered around a police barricade at Canal Street meant to keep vehicles off of Bourbon Street and sped into a crowd, Kirkpatrick said. It appears the truck was able to travel three blocks before colliding with a lift vehicle near Conti Street.
“He was hellbent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did,” the police said.
Bollards that rise from the street are installed along and near Bourbon Street, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether they were deployed on the stretch in question.
The FBI is leading the investigation and looking into what they believe to be improvised explosive devices, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan said. The federal agency is investigating the incident as a possible act of terrorism.
An eight-block stretch of Bourbon Street remains closed to traffic, and some hotels in the French Quarter have been evacuated as a precautionary measure, WVUE-TV Fox 8 is reporting. The public is being asked to avoid a large portion of the historic neighborhood, which typically sees crowds larger than typical weekends for New Year’s Eve.
Hospitality and service industry employees reporting for work Wednesday morning were being turned away from cordoned-off areas.
New Orleans is hosting fans of the University of Georgia and Notre Dame for the Sugar Bowl, scheduled for Wednesday night at the Superdome. Representatives with the event have said they are speaking with local, state and federal authorities to keep apprised of developments.
The city will also host Super Bowl LIX in early February.
Cantrell said she has contacted Gov. Jeff Landry and the White House to inform them about the incident.
“A horrific act of violence took place on Bourbon Street earlier this morning,” Landry posted on X. “Please join Sharon and I in praying for all the victims and first responders on scene.”
The NOPD is asking anyone trying to connect with family who they believe were in the area to call 311, and not 911, for more information.
This story is republished from the Louisiana Illuminator, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.
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