Hours after a man drove a truck into crowds of New Year’s revelers down Bourbon Street, ultimately killing 10 people and wounding at least 35 others, the Sugar Bowl at the New Orleans Superdome is set to continue as scheduled.
The college football game — which pits Georgia against Notre Dame this year — will take place on Jan. 1 at 8:45 p.m., hours after a truck drove into crowds of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street at a high rate of speed.
Authorities have said the suspect tried to “run over as many people as he possibly could” before exchanging gunshots with the police around 3:15 a.m. local time on Jan. 1.
Two police officers who were shot are now in stable condition and the suspect himself was shot and killed by police during the incident, law enforcement officials said in a press conference Wednesday.
The incident took place in New Orleans’ French Quarter, located less than a mile from the Superdome.
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Related: 10 People Killed, 30 Injured After Truck Is Driven into New Year’s Eve Crowd in New Orleans: Police
In a Wednesday morning press conference, Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said the situation was “complex and serious,” adding that the suspect “fired on our officers from his vehicle when he crashed his vehicle.”
Kirkpatrick added that the Sugar Bowl is set to continue.
“There’s much to enjoy about New Orleans and we are going to make sure that our routes and the Superdome are safe today for the game. And yeah, we had this tragic event and we’re sorry to everyone in our community, but we do want you to go about the day. As we say, just stay away from Bourbon,” she said.
Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley also issued a statement, saying: “The Sugar Bowl Committee is devastated by the terrible events from early this morning. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We are in ongoing discussions with authorities on the local, state and federal levels and will communicate further details as they become available.”
Related: 2 Officers Shot During New Orleans New Year’s Event Now in ‘Stable’ Condition, Police Chief Says
Authorities said that the FBI will now be taking over the investigation and that they are now working to identify whether the suspect had attempted to use improvised explosive devices in the incident.
Alethea Duncan, assistant special agent in charge for the FBI’s New Orleans office, said during the press conference that improvised explosive devices were found, “and we are working on confirming if this is a viable device or not,” she added.
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