The suspect, who initially fled after exchanging fire with the police, was killed, US media reported.
At least 10 people were killed and 30 others injured after a driver plowed his vehicle into a crowd at high speed in the city of New Orleans in the early hours of New Year’s Day, local police and city officials said.
“This man was trying to run over as many people as he could,” Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told reporters Wednesday. “He was hell bent on creating the carnage and damage that he did.”
The incident happened around 3:15 a.m. (09:15 GMT) at Canal and Bourbon streets in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter, the city said in a statement.
Kirkpatrick said the driver shot two officers after the vehicle crashed. She said the officers were in “stable” condition.
The suspect, who initially fled after exchanging fire with police, was killed, US media reported, citing local law enforcement officials.
The mayor of New Orleans described the incident as a “terrorist attack.”
Alethea Duncan, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans field office, said, “This is not a terrorist event.”
The FBI later said in a statement that “we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism.”
The White House said President Biden had been briefed on the situation and confirmed the FBI was on the ground along with local law enforcement.
Videos shared online and confirmed by Al Jazeera show people running from the scene of the incident after gunshots rang out.
“A terrible act of violence occurred on Bourbon Street earlier this morning,” Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said on X, urging people to stay away from the area where the attack took place.
The incident occurred near the end of New Orleans’ New Year’s Eve celebration and hours before the start of the Allstate Bowl, a college football quarterfinal at the city’s Caesars Superdome that is expected to draw thousands.
New Orleans has seen gunfire and cars crash into crowds in past parades.
In November 2024, two people were killed and 10 wounded in two separate shootings along the New Orleans parade route and a celebration attended by thousands, local media reported.
In February 2017, a pickup truck driven by a man who police said was highly intoxicated plowed into a crowd of spectators watching the main Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, injuring more than 20 people.
