FBI launches terrorism investigation into New Orleans attack that killed 10

A driver wreaked havoc in New Orleans' historic French Quarter early on New Year's Day, slamming a pickup truck into a crowd and killing ten people before being shot dead by police, according to officials.

Police cordon off the intersection of Canal and Bourbon Streets in New Orleans' French Quarter on January 1, 2025.

Matthew Hinton/AFP via Getty Images

The attack injured over 30 individuals and is being investigated by the FBI as a terrorist crime.

The driver was killed in a shootout with police after the attack around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday on Bourbon Street near Canal Street, in an area crowded with New Year's revelers, according to the FBI.

According to an Associated Press report, investigators were scanning the French Quarter for probable explosive devices. The official was not allowed to discuss the probe publicly and talked with the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

Alethea Duncan, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge, said that investigators were looking into at least one suspected improvised explosive device at the location.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell labeled the deaths as a "terrorist attack" at a press conference, while the city's police chief said that the conduct was certainly deliberate.

According to New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick, the driver was "hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did."

"It was really planned conduct. "This man was trying to run over as many people as he could," Kirkpatrick said.

Police said that once the vehicle came to a halt, the driver exited and opened fire on approaching policemen. Officers returned fire, killing the driver, police said.

Two cops were wounded and are in stable condition, according to police. They were among 33 persons injured in the automobile assault.

"When I got to work this morning, it was kind of pandemonium everywhere," Derick Fleming, head bellhop at the neighboring Crowne Plaza, told The Associated Press. "There were a few of bodies on the ground, covered up. Police were searching for explosives in garbage cans.

The area is popular for New Year's Eve celebrations.

Tens of thousands of college football fans gathered in the city for Wednesday night's Sugar Bowl semifinal matchup between Georgia and Notre Dame at the neighboring Superdome. The stadium was under lockdown Wednesday morning, but the game was slated to go as planned.

Both colleges offered their sympathies to the victims and stated that they were collaborating with law enforcement to discover whether any students, workers, or alumni were wounded.

Hours after the attack, three coroner's office vans were parked on the corner of Bourbon and Canal streets, roped off by police tape and surrounded by stunned visitors.

Kevin Garcia, 22, told CNN that he witnessed a vehicle smashing into people on a walkway and heard gunfire.

"A body came flying at me," he said.

Whit Davis told the network that he heard people shouting and racing to the rear as he was exiting a nightclub.

"When they eventually allowed us out of the club, cops motioned us where to go and told us to get out of there quickly. "I saw a few dead bodies that they couldn't even cover up and a lot of people getting first aid," Davis, 22, said.

According to the city's emergency preparation agency, the injured have been brought to five hospitals.

President Joe Biden said that the FBI is examining the "horrific incident" as "an act of terrorism" and that he has asked his staff to ensure that every resource is available as authorities attempt to "get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible."

"My heart goes out to the victims and their families who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday," Biden wrote 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."

The attack is the most recent example of a vehicle being used as a weapon to commit mass carnage, a trend that has frightened law enforcement officials and can be difficult to prevent.

Last month, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor drove into a Christmas market packed with holiday shoppers in the German city of Magdeburg, murdering four women and a 9-year-old kid. A man who drove his SUV through a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee in 2021 is receiving a life sentence after a court dismissed his and his family's allegations that mental illness pushed him to do it. Six individuals were killed.

An Islamic fanatic was convicted to ten life terms last year for killing eight people with a vehicle on a Manhattan bike path on Halloween 2017. Also In 2017, a self-proclaimed Adolf Hitler supporter smashed his car into counterprotesters at a white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia, and is currently receiving a life sentence.