At least 10 people were killed and more than 35 injured on Wednesday after a pickup truck rammed into a crowd of New Year revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has said it is probing the incident as ‘an act of terrorism’.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the killings as a “terrorist attack” and the city’s police chief said the act was clearly intentional, AP reported. New Orleans Police Commissioner Anne Kirkpatrick said the driver was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.”
ALSO READ: ‘Body came flying at me’: Witnesses describe New Orleans car attack on New Year’s day
Here are the top updates related to the brutal incident that occurred on the first day of 2025:-
1. In a statement on social media platform X, the FBI said,”This morning, an individual drove a car into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing a number of people and injuring dozens of others. The subject then engaged with local law enforcement and is now deceased. The FBI is the lead investigative agency, and we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism.”
New Orleans car attack LIVE coverage
2. US president-elect Donald Trump condemned the New Orleans attack, linking it to illegal immigrants. “When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in the country… it turned out to be true,” Trump posted on social media. Police have not indicated the nationality or identity of the attacker.
3. US president Joe Biden said the United States “will not tolerate attacks on its people.”
“There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities,” AFP quoted Biden as saying in a statement.
4. According to the police, after the vehicle stopped, the driver emerged and opened fire on responding officers. Officers returned fire, killing the driver, police said. Two officers were wounded and are in stable condition, police said. They were in addition to 33 people injured in the vehicle attack.
5. Verified video taken by an onlooker shows at least two twisted bodies in the street, with one of them lying in what appears to be a puddle of blood, Reuters reported. A bystander is seen kneeling over one of the bodies as a group of uniformed military personnel in green uniforms and carrying firearms runs past.
6. The injured were taken to at least five hospitals, according to NOLA Ready, the city’s emergency preparedness department. A couple told CBS News that they heard crashing noises coming from down the street and then saw a white truck slam through a barricade “at a high rate of speed”.
7. According to a Reuters report, New Orleans was in the process of removing and replacing the steel barriers known as bollards that restrict vehicle traffic in the Bourbon Street pedestrian zone, but it was unclear what the status of the project was at the time of Wednesday’s attack.
8. New Orleans is one of the most heavily visited destinations in the United States and the incident came shortly before the city hosts a major football game, known as the Sugar Bowl, featuring teams from the University of Georgia and Notre Dame, AFP reported.
9. The injured were taken to five hospitals, the city’s emergency preparedness department told AP.
10. Investigators were combing the French Quarter for potential explosive devices, a law enforcement official on condition of anonymity told the Associated Press.
(With AP, AFP and Reuters inputs)
