At least 10 people were killed and as many as 35 injured after a truck drove into a large crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter early on Wednesday during a New Year’s celebration, according to the FBI and city leaders.
The pick-up truck crashed into the crowd at high speed around 3:15 a.m. and within moments the driver started firing on police officers from inside the vehicle, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said at an early morning news conference. Two officers were shot and are now being treated in stable condition.
CNN and ABC News, citing unnamed officials, said the gunman was killed at the scene.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell told reporters that the driver was on a mission to kill as many people as possible. “He was hell bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did . . . This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could. It was not a DUI situation,” Cantrell said.
Hundreds of police officers were in the city for New Year’s Eve duty when the assault happened, Cantrell said. The driver of the truck swerved around barricades on his way into the crowd, she said.
“Last night, we had over 300 officers out here, and because of the intentional mindset of this perpetrator who went around our barricades in order to conduct this,” the mayor said.
