By Eric Tucker and Jim Mustian, Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Early on New Year’s Day, a vehicle plowed into a crowd of New Orleans revelers, killing 10 people and injuring 35 others, in what the FBI is investigating as an act of terrorism.
The FBI said the driver of the vehicle was killed in a shootout with police after the attack around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday on Bourbon Street within the bustling French Quarter.
According to New Orleans police, when the vehicle stopped, the driver got out of the truck and opened fire on the officers. Officers returned fire, striking and killing the driver, police added.
Police said two officers were shot and their condition was stable. They were amongst 35 people injured.
At a news conference, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the killings as a “terrorist attack,” and town’s police chief said the act was clearly intentional.
Police Chief Inspector Anne Kirkpatrick said the driver was “determined to cause carnage and the damage he caused”.
“It was very intentional behavior. This man was trying to run over as many people as he could,” Kirkpatrick said.
FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan said officers were investigating a minimum of one suspected improvised explosive device on the scene.
This area is generally known as one of the most effective New Year’s Eve destinations.
Crowds in town ballooned in anticipation of Wednesday’s Sugar Bowl college football playoff game on the nearby Superdome between Georgia and Notre Dame.
Kirkpatrick said cops can be working to make sure safety on the Sugar Bowl, noting the sport will go on as scheduled.
Kevin Garcia, 22, told CNN he saw a truck hit people on the sidewalk and heard gunshots.
“The body was flying towards me,” he said.
Whit Davis told the station he heard people screaming and running to the back as he left the nightclub.
“When they finally let us leave the club, the police showed us where to go and told us to quickly leave the area. I saw some dead bodies that weren’t even covered up and a lot of people receiving first aid,” Davis, 22, said.
According to town’s emergency preparedness department, the injured were transported to 5 hospitals.
The White House said President Joe Biden had been informed, and the Justice Department said Attorney General Merrick Garland had also been notified.
The attack is the most recent example of a vehicle getting used as a weapon to perform mass violence. It’s a trend that has law enforcement officials concerned and could be difficult to guard against.
Last month, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor drove into a Christmas market full of customers within the German city of Magdeburg, killing 4 women and a 9-year-old boy. A man who drove his SUV in a suburban Milwaukee holiday parade in 2021 is serving a life sentence after a judge rejected his and his family’s arguments that mental illness forced him to accomplish that. Six people died.
Last 12 months, an Islamic extremist was sentenced to 10 life sentences for killing eight individuals with a truck on a Manhattan bike path on Halloween in 2017. Also in 2017, a self-proclaimed admirer of Adolf Hitler drove his automobile into counter-demonstrators outside a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and he’s currently serving a life sentence.
