At least 10 killed in New Orleans after vehicle plows into New Year’s Day revelers

New Year’s celebrations in New Orleans, Louisiana, were overshadowed by tragedy early Wednesday morning. At least 10 people have been killed and about 35 injured after a Ford F-150 electric pickup truck plowed into a crowd on Bourbon Street in the heart of downtown, authorities said.The mass hit-and-run occurred in an area in the heart of New Orleans, where people had gathered to celebrate New Year’s Day. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrel said the New Year’s Day mass casualty incident was a “terrorist attack,” and that they are in contact with the White House. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has confirmed that it is investigating the event as “an act of terrorism” and that the perpetrator of the hit-and-run was shot dead by police.

New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick referred to the incident as “very intentional behavior” during a press conference early Wednesday, saying the suspect was “trying to run over as many people as he could.” She also revealed that the perpetrator fired at police officers from his vehicle, striking two officers, who are currently in a stable condition. For her part, Alethea Duncan, FBI Special Agent in New Orleans, has explained that investigators found what appeared to be homemade explosive devices at the scene, but were trying to determine if they were viable.

The authorities did not provide information on the whereabouts, identity or motives of the perpetrator of the attack. They also did not admit any questions. The FBI, however, later confirmed the death of the perpetrator after a shooting with agents.

The incident occurred at around 3:15 a.m. local time towards the end of the New Year’s Eve celebrations. A white electric Ford F-150 Lightning pickup truck with Texas license plates cleared the crash barriers and plowed into the crowd at high speed on a narrow, busy street.

After the hit-and-run, the bodies of numerous victims were strewn on the ground. Videos circulating on social media show horrifying images, with bloodied corpses and numerous injured. The van crashed and the images show four bullet impacts on its rear window. Some videos also show gunfire following the incident.

The city was upgrading the bollards on a stretch of Bourbon Street in the area where the attack occurred. The project was to replace the old bollards with steel ones that could be raised and lowered. The work was to be completed in February, according to City Hall information on the project. The French Quarter of New Orleans, where the attack took place, is the city’s main tourist attraction and one of the favorite places in the United States to spend New Year’s Eve.

Dozens of emergency services vehicles were rushed to the area, including police, ambulances and firefighters, who have been checking parked cars and evacuating some hotels. Local media report that the Airbnb home where the perpetrator of the hit-and-run is believed to have been staying has suffered a fire this morning. Police officers and artificers have moved to the scene.

The White House has indicated that the President, Joe Biden, has been briefed on the news, has spoken with the Mayor of New Orleans to offer federal assistance and will continue to receive information throughout the day. “My heart goes out to the victims and their families who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday,” he said in a statement. “There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities.”

Although the identity of the perpetrator had not been revealed yet, President-elect Donald Trump, who linked immigration and crime during his campaign, insinuated that it was a foreigner.
“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true,” the president-elect posted on his Truth Social network. “The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before. Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!”

Fox News fed that idea with the information that the van had been seen crossing the border from Mexico in Eagle Pass (Texas). First it said that it had been only two days before; then it rectified and said that it was in November and that it was not being driven by the perpetrator of the hit-and-run, but by then the initial false information was already circulating at full speed through social networks and conservative media. According to ABC News, the owner of the van rented it to an individual through the car-sharing app Turo.

New Orleans is hosting the Sugar Bowl, a college soccer game, on Wednesday at the city’s Caesars Superdome stadium, near the area of the mass shooting, which is expected to be attended by tens of thousands of people. The city will host the Super Bowl, the finals of the professional soccer league, on February 9.

The New Orleans mass shooting is the deadliest mass shooting ever recorded in the United States. On November 21, 2021, Darrell Edward Brooks rammed a minivan into the annual Waukesha (Wisconsin) Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring 62 others. In August 2017, neo-Nazi James A. Fields ran over a crowd of counter-protesters protesting a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville (Virginia), killing one person and injuring 35 others. Intentional hit-and-runs of protesters became frequent in the spring 2020 wave of protests and riots that followed George Floyd’s death at the hands of police, but without ever reaching similar dimensions.

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