Ten people are dead after a car slammed into a crowd in New Orleans’ popular Bourbon Street during New Year’s Day celebrations.
At least 30 more are hurt, officials say. Witness accounts recalled a speeding truck crashing into a crowd before the driver got out and started firing a weapon, with police returning fire, CBS reported. The incident occured around 3:15 a.m. local time.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry has described it as a “horrific act of violence” and urged “all near the scene to avoid the area”.
NOLA Ready, the department responsible for emergency preparedness in New Orleans, said responders were attending a “mass casualty incident involving a vehicle that drove into a large crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street.” It confirmed the casualty toll.
Footage circulating online, which appears to show the aftermath of the incident, shows multiple lying on the floor as people run from the area.
NOLA Ready asked people to stay away from the area in a post on X. “There has been a mass casualty incident on Canal and Bourbon Street. Get yourself away from the area,” it wrote.
Famous for its nightlife, Bourbon Street was still teeming with revelers celebrating New Year’s Eve when the vehicle drove into the crowd early Wednesday morning. Additionally, the violent incident occurred while New Orleans was just hours away from hosting the AllState Sugar Bowl in the Superdome, which draws tens of thousands of college football fans from across the country.
One person who says they witnessed the incident described it on social media as the “most horrific thing I’ve ever seen.” They said they saw a “truck crashing through the barricades” before seeing it “run into a crowd” and “people flying as it hit them.”
“All I seen was a truck slamming into everyone on the left side of Bourbon sidewalk,” another witness told CNN shortly after the incident, saying he heard gunshots being fired. “A body came flying at me.”
“Everyone started yelling and screaming and running to the back, and then we basically went into lockdown for a little bit and then it calmed down but they wouldn’t let us leave,” witness Whit Davis also told CNN. “When they finally let us out of the club, police waved us where to walk and were telling us to get out of the area fast. I saw a few dead bodies they couldn’t even cover up and tons of people receiving first aid.”
New Orleans Emergency Medical Services (NOEMS) have transported the casualties to University Medical Center, Touro Hospital, East Jefferson General Hospital, Ochsner Medical Center Jefferson Campus and Ochsner Baptist Campus.
More to follow on this breaking news story....
