A driver rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of New Orleans revelers early on New Year’s Day, killing 10 people and injuring more than 30 in what the FBI is investigating as an act of terrorism.
The driver was killed in a firefight with police following the attack around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday along Bourbon Street in the city’s bustling French Quarter, the FBI said.
Investigators were combing the French Quarter for potential explosive devices, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press. The official was not authorized to discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan said officials were investigating at least one suspected improvised explosive device at the scene.
At a news conference, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the killings as a “terrorist attack” and the city’s police chief said the act was clearly intentional.
New Orleans Police Commissioner Anne Kirkpatrick said the driver was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.”
“It was very intentional behavior. This man was trying to run over as many people as he could,” Kirkpatrick said.
After the vehicle stopped, the driver emerged and opened fire on responding officers, police said. 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 actual attack.
The area is known as one of the largest New Year’s Eve destinations.
Crowds in the city were ballooning in anticipation of Wednesday night’s Sugar Bowl college football playoff game between Georgia and Notre Dame at the nearby Superdome. The stadium was on lockdown Wednesday morning, but the game was expected to go on as scheduled.
Hours after the attack, three coroner’s office vans were parked on the corner of Bourbon and Canal streets, cordoned off by police tape with crowds of dazed tourists standing around.
Ban assault trucks unironically. Their high flat grilles are designed to plow into and kill pedestrians.
Ban cars unironically.
I can see some use for them in rural areas and in terms of like car shares and rentals, but for general use people really should be using public transit, problem is that simply doesn’t exist in most of NA.
The thing is, cars should just be physically barred from entering the French Quarter year round anyway. It’s absurd that they aren’t.
Plenty of cities with dense downtowns already do this too, so its not like some newfangled idea. If need be, allow vehicle deliveries in the mornings and then pedestrian/bike traffic only for the rest of the day, bollards up.
They had barriers supposed to operate 5pm to 5am. Can’t even follow the rules smdh
they just… didn’t have them up even though they’re mostly complete. Obviously the only time a city would ever be a target of terror attacks is during a major football/basketball game
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-orleans-was-replacing-street-barriers-time-truck-attack-2025-01-01/
and the police couldn’t comprehend that someone conducting a ramming attack on pedestrians would be willing to simply… drive onto the sidewalk
Ban yank tanks
oooh, that’s a good name for them
Typical crude American brutishness. People have been killing themselves and each other in much smaller cars for far longer than these stupid emissions tax avoidance loopholes on wheels have been on the roads. Damn.
All that AND driver assists? just take the fucken bus or ride a bike if you can’t drive a death machine safely. I don’t want to hear about how you have 4 kids to take to school safely. Skill issue.