'Mass Casualty Incident' Reported on Bourbon Street

10 said to be dead after car reportedly drives into crowd
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 1, 2025 5:50 AM CST
Updated Jan 1, 2025 7:02 AM CST
'Mass Casualty Incident' Reported in New Orleans
Emergency services attend the scene on Bourbon Street after a vehicle drove into a crowd on New Orleans' Canal and Bourbon Street, Wednesday Jan. 1, 2025.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Tragedy in New Orleans on the first day of 2025: CNN reports 10 people were killed and 30 more injured after a vehicle drove into a Bourbon Street crowd around 3:15am on Wednesday. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has called it "a terrorist attack," though CBS News notes an FBI official did not refer to it that way. News of the incident initially came via a statement from the city's disaster preparedness agency, NOLA Ready, which said "the 8th District is currently working a mass casualty incident involving a vehicle that drove into a large crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street."

NOLA Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick described it as an intentional act, saying, "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. He was hell bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did, ... It was not a DUI situation. This was more complex and more serious based on the information we have right now." She added that the suspect fired on police and hit two officers; they are in stable condition.

The injured have been taken to five hospitals. CNN notes the city is slated to host the Sugar Bowl on Wednesday night, with the winner of the University of Georgia-Notre Dame match-up set to advance to the College Football Playoff semifinals. Kirkpatrick indicated the game would take place as scheduled. (More New Orleans stories.)

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