At least 14 killed in New Orleans after driver intentionally rams into crowd on Bourbon Street

New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond offered his prayers, condolences and support to those impacted by the deadly New Year’s celebration attack where a driver rammed a pickup truck into a crowd early Wednesday morning.

The suspect in New Orleans attack made a series of video recordings before Wednesday morning that law enforcement is currently reviewing, according to multiple officials briefed on the investigation.

The recordings appear to have been made while driving at night. The suspect is not visible because it is dark, but authorities believe the recordings were made as he drove from Texas to Louisiana, although the exact timing is not yet clear.

In the recordings the suspect makes reference to his divorce and how he had at first planned to gather his family for a “celebration” with the intention of killing them, two officials who had been briefed on the material in the recordings said. The suspect also talked about how he changed his plans and said that he joined ISIS. He referenced several dreams that he had about why he should be joining ISIS.

Former Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana speaks to CNN's Wolf Blitzer on January 1.

Former Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana called the mood in New Orleans “somber” after Wednesday’s deadly attack in the French Quarter, but said in the city “we always get back up.”

The FBI confirmed Thursday that 14 people were killed in the terror attack in New Orleans. The attacker is also dead. The New Orleans Coroner previously announced 15 deaths but did not provide any identifying information about the decedents.

Richmond, a Democrat who represented New Orleans in Congress and ran the Office of Public Engagement in the Biden administration, called the attack an “evil act” committed by an “evil person.”

“But the other thing I will say is: New Orleans, we’ve been knocked down a lot. Whether it’s Katrina, Rita, whether it’s Betsy,” Richmond said, referring to destructive hurricanes that have torn through the state.

The man suspected in the New Year’s attack in New Orleans served in the US Army from 2007 to 2020, serving in both an active duty and reserve capacity, an Army spokesperson said Wednesday.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar served as a human resources specialist and information technology specialist on active duty between March 2007 and January 2015, deploying to Afghanistan once from February 2009 to January 2010. After leaving active duty in January 2015, Jabbar served in the Army Reserve until July 2020.

He left service as a staff sergeant, according to the Army.

Before joining the Army, Jabbar also served for one month in the US Navy. A Navy spokesperson confirmed to CNN that he enlisted in August 2004 and was discharged from the Delayed Entry Program a month later.

The Delayed Entry Program allows recruits to sign up for service but delay their date for shipping to boot camp. While waiting to leave for training, those in the program are members of the Navy’s inactive reserve.

A coroner van is seen on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on January 1.

At least 15 people have died in the attack in New Orleans, according to an official statement from New Orleans Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna on Wednesday.

The FBI revised the number Thursday, saying that 14 people were killed in the attack. The attacker is also dead.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic events that unfolded in the French Quarter. Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with the victims, their families, and everyone affected,” McKenna’s statement read.

McKenna added that his office is working in coordination “with the New Orleans Police Department, FBI, and Homeland Security.”

“We remain committed to supporting the community during this tragic time in our city,” McKenna’s statement read.

UPDATE: An earlier version of this post included the attacker in the number of people killed. At least 14 people were killed. The attacker is also dead.

Reggie Hunter, 37, from Baton Rouge was killed in the New Orleans truck attack, leaving behind an 11-year-old and a 1-year-old, according to his cousin Shirell Robinson Jackson.

Reggie Hunter, 37, from Baton Rouge.

Jackson said Hunter was on Bourbon Street with his cousin Kevin Ball, who is currently hospitalized.

Jackson hasn’t been in touch with Ball directly, but her cousin spoke with him this morning and said he was awake and asking about Hunter.

The last time Jackson heard from Hunter was at 12:07 a.m. when he texted their family group chat saying “Happy new year.”

About five hours later, he arrived at the hospital, according to Jackson. “He was alive when they got there,” she said. However, he died from internal injuries by the time she arrived to the hospital at 7:20 a.m.

The doctor told Jackson his injuries indicated the truck drove over him, Jackson said. He had a ruptured spleen, a punctured lung and internal bleeding, among other injuries, she said.

He was “Not a threat to anyone … He surely didn’t deserve this, none of the victims did. This is the 1st day of 2025 and a punch to the gut,” Jackson wrote on Facebook.

Hunter loved to laugh and tell jokes, as Jackson described multiple inside jokes the two had. “He loved his kids. He loved loved loved his family,” Jackson said.

The Sugar Bowl moved ahead the start time for the previously postponed bowl game to Thursday at 4 p.m. ET following the deadly attack in New Orleans on Wednesday.

The College Football Playoff quarterfinal game between the University of Georgia and the University of Notre Dame in New Orleans will now start at 4 p.m. ET Thursday at Caesars Superdome, according to a statement from the Sugar Bowl.

Earlier on Wednesday, Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley said the game would be played Thursday night.

Federal investigators now believe the three men and one woman seen in the French Quarter in surveillance video were not involved in placing improvised explosive devices in New Orleans, a law enforcement official told CNN.

The FBI investigation into Wednesday’s deadly attack is ongoing and evolving, and investigators are still trying to determine if other people may have been involved in addition to the suspect who rammed his pickup truck into a crowd, killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens.

Law enforcement sources told CNN earlier Wednesday that investigators had reviewed video showing three men and a woman who investigators thought at the time may have been involved in placing suspected improvised explosive devices in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

The French Quarter in New Orleans is blocked off late morning with a heavy police and FBI presence January 1.

At least 10 people were killed and 35 injured after a truck ran into a crowd early on New Year’s Day in New Orleans — in what police are calling a “very intentional” act — in the heart of the city’s bustling and historic tourist district, the French Quarter.

Witnesses reported bodies lying near the southern end of Bourbon Street, the narrow, pedestrian-friendly avenue filled with restaurants and music clubs tucked underneath blocks of distinctive balconies.

Here’s what we know so far as officials investigate the fatal incident:

The investigation:

The suspect:

The victims:

Upcoming sports events:

Reaction:

Airlines on Wednesday said travelers may experience travel disruptions and some offered flexibility to customers following the deadly attack in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

“Due to the security situation in New Orleans, Louisiana, travel to, from, or through the destinations listed below may be affected,” Delta said in an online post that listed options for how customers can rebook flights.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic events that occurred in New Orleans last night and express our condolences to all those who have been impacted,” regional air carrier Breeze Airways said in an email. “BreezeGuests with existing flights in or out of Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) who wish to make changes can contact our Guest Empowerment Team by texting (501) 273-3931 to do so for no additional charge.”

Southwest Airlines said it would be offering flexibility to customers who had planned to fly into New Orleans following the attack.

“Due to the events that occurred in New Orleans during the early hours of January 1, 2025, we are offering increased flexibility to Customers holding reservations to, from, or through New Orleans, LA (MSY) between January 1-3, 2025,” the company said in a statement.

American Airlines will add an extra flight between New Orleans and Dallas on Friday. They’ll waive the change fee if customers were supposed to travel between January 1-2 and can travel January 1 -6 to and from New Orleans. Changes must be booked by tomorrow, January 3, the company said.

Context: The FBI is investigating the deadly incident in the French Quarter of New Orleans as an “act of terrorism,” the bureau said earlier Wednesday. The FBI is also looking into any possible associates of the suspect, a standard part of any investigation, law enforcement officials told CNN.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran from Texas, has been identified as the suspect who intentionally rammed a pickup truck into a large crowd on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street early in the morning on New Year’s Day, according to authorities. He was killed in a firefight with police after the crash.

The FBI released Shamsud-Din Jabbar's passport photo.

Jabbar was born in Beaumont, Texas, he said in a 2020 YouTube video titled “Personal Introduction,” in which he pitched himself as a professional real estate agent based in Houston. Authorities said Jabbar is an Army veteran, though officials did not immediately confirm details about his service.

“We believe he was honorably discharged, but we are working through this process, figuring out all this information,” Alethea Duncan, FBI assistant special agent in charge, said during a news conference this afternoon.

An ISIS flag was found in the truck, the FBI confirmed. The agency said it is working to determine any potential associations with terrorist groups.

Jabbar, who held jobs in real estate and IT, had been struggling with financial troubles in recent years, court documents show. In a January 2022 email filed as part of his divorce case, he wrote he could not afford a payment on his house, which he said was more than $27,000 past due and “in danger of foreclosure” if his divorce settlement was further delayed.

He also said a business he formed lost about $28,000 in 2021 and he incurred approximately $16,000 in credit card debt, the court documents say.

The mother of two of Jabbar’s children sued him in Harris County, Texas, in 2012 over child support, court records show. The case was dismissed in 2022.

Jabbar’s education and licenses:

Read more on what we know about the suspect.

CNN’s Evan Perez and Pamela Brown contributed to this report.

This post has been updated with additional biographical information on Jabbar.

A sign for the Allstate Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame is seen outside the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on January 1.

Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said Wednesday it was “wise” to postpone the Sugar Bowl following the deadly attack in The French Quarter in New Orleans, but said “we don’t bow down to terrorists.”

“I think it was wise to postpone the Sugar Bowl tomorrow night to give them a little extra time to expand the perimeter, and I know they’re working hard on that today,” Landrieu told CNN’s Phil Mattingly after noting the density of New Orleans’ downtown area.

Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley announced Wednesday’s game between the University of Georgia and the University of Notre Dame will be postponed to Thursday in wake of the fatal attack.

“The Superdome is going to be safe tomorrow night. We do these things all of the time,” Landrieu, also a former Biden administration adviser, said.

President Joe Biden appears during a news conference at the White House in Washington, DC, on October 4.

President Joe Biden was briefed again Wednesday afternoon by his homeland security team on the deadly New Year’s attack in New Orleans, the White House said.

Earlier today, Biden said he’s “grateful for the brave and swift response of local law enforcement in preventing even greater death and injury.”

Biden has close ties to New Orleans and the state of Louisiana, with several prominent politicians from the state having served in his administration. Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu served as the president’s infrastructure coordinator for two years, and former US Rep. Cedric Richmond, who represented New Orleans, ran the Office of Public Engagement. Both Landrieu and Richmond served as co-chairs for the president’s reelection campaign.

Biden traveled to New Orleans in August to highlight new funding for a cancer detection research program at Tulane University, his daughter Ashley’s alma mater.

A surveillance camera program started by the French Quarter Management District has helped the area earn one of New Orleans’ highest crime-clearance rates, but it doesn’t deter crime, one of the program’s founders said — and couldn’t have prevented the attack early Wednesday.

The camera program allows citizens and business owners to register their surveillance cameras with the New Orleans Police Department in order to help solve crimes in the neighborhood. It now hosts more than 1,400 of them, according to the management district’s website.

Footage captured from a surveillance camera on Canal Street in New Orleans shows a white pickup truck turning onto Bourbon Street early Wednesday morning, moments before the attack.

In the surveillance clip, timestamped to 3:16 a.m. local time, a white pickup truck is seen driving northwest on Canal Street with a large, distinctive pole attached to the rear.

The pole remains attached to the truck in footage captured later at the scene. Soon after, the truck passes what appears to be a law enforcement vehicle before accelerating rapidly through a group of people standing outside a pharmacy on the corner of Bourbon and Canal streets.

The FBI Houston and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office are “are currently conducting law enforcement activity” in north Houston “related to this morning’s New Orleans attack,” the FBI said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

The officials declined to provide further detail, citing the ongoing investigation.

Context: The FBI is investigating the deadly incident in the French Quarter of New Orleans as an “act of terrorism,” the bureau said earlier Wednesday. The FBI is also looking into any possible associates of the suspect who may have been involved, a standard part of any investigation, law enforcement officials told CNN.

Investigators have reviewed video showing three men and a woman who may have been involved in placing suspected improvised explosive devices in the French Quarter of New Orleans, law enforcement sources told CNN.

Investigators also have found writings with the suspect that the FBI believes support officials’ view that the deadly attack was inspired by ISIS, sources said.

The FBI, which is leading the investigation, previously said potential IEDs have been located in the area, in addition to weapons and IEDs found in the vehicle. One source familiar with the investigation said one location was farther down Bourbon Street, where the attack took place.

The FBI said at a news conference Wednesday that investigators do not believe the suspect was “solely responsible” for the attack. The bureau has also said the incident is being investigated as an “act of terrorism.”

An ISIS flag was located in the vehicle, according to the FBI, and investigators are working to determine whether the primary suspect, identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar from Texas, has any ties with terrorist organizations.

A heavy law enforcement presence in the Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans on January 1.

There is a heavy law enforcement presence in the Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans following this morning’s truck attack on Bourbon Street.

New Orleans police officers and ambulances have cordoned off several blocks around Mandeville Street. Neighbors said law enforcement had been in the area since about 6:30 a.m. local time but gave no indication as to what led to their presence.

The neighborhood is about 1.5 miles from the area on Bourbon Street where the attack took place earlier Wednesday.

Members of Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI are also on the scene.

Residents inside the police cordon are being permitted to leave the area but are not able to reenter.

The French Quarter in New Orleans is blocked off late morning with a heavy police and FBI presence January 1.

There is evidence of more than one person involved in the attack in New Orleans, but investigators are not sharing more information as it is an ongoing investigation, US Rep. Troy Carter told CNN’s Brianna Keilar Wednesday.

“There is an ongoing investigation, which limits our ability to talk much more than that, other than to clearly say that this coward did not act alone, and our resources are on the ground turning over every stone. There will not be a rock big enough for them to hide,” said Carter, who represents New Orleans.

He was unable to say whether investigators know where these other people are, or whether they are part of a group, but said law enforcement has doubled the resources in the area to make sure they can do their best to keep everyone safe.

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley sent a letter to Sen. Rand Paul, incoming chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, urging him to call on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray to publicly testify in the wake of the New Orleans attack.

“Until January 20, the American people remain at risk unless the outgoing administration is held to account for policy changes that have made this country less safe,” the Missouri Republican added.

Anne E. Kirkpatrick, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent, speaks at a press conference in New Orleans on January 1.

New Orleans officials said mechanical barricades and bollards on Bourbon Street were not functioning and were being replaced ahead of the Super Bowl in February.

In their place, police cars and other barriers were placed at parts of Bourbon Street, but the attacker drove onto the sidewalk to evade the barriers and slammed into crowds of people.

“This particular terrorist drove around onto the sidewalk and got around the hard target. We did have a car there, we had barriers there, we had officers there, and they still got around,” Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said at a news conference Wednesday.

She said police were aware the mechanical barricades, which she called “wedges,” did not work as intended and sometimes got stuck.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the bollards placed on Bourbon Street about 10 years ago malfunctioned “from Mardi Gras beads on down.” The city has been replacing the old bollards with new removable stainless-steel bollards along several blocks, including where the attack unfolded, in preparation for the Super Bowl.

“Bollards were not up because they are near completion with the expectation of being completed, of course, by the Super Bowl,” she said.

The safety measures: The steel barricades were installed in 2017 in the wake of the 2016 truck ramming attack in Nice, France, and various drunken driving crashes on Bourbon Street over the years. The barricades can be set in a flat or raised position to allow or prevent vehicles from entering the area.

The suspect in the deadly New Orleans attack was an Army veteran, the FBI said in a news conference Wednesday.

“We believe he was honorably discharged, but we are working through this process, figuring out all this information,” said Alethea Duncan, FBI assistant special agent in charge.

The FBI has identified the suspect as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar of Texas. CNN reported earlier Wednesday that Jabbar had served in the US military.

The city of New Orleans has overcome challenges in the past — including pervasive violence —and the chief of the city’s police force said the city will overcome the latest blow delivered by the attack on Bourbon Street early Wednesday morning.

“This city has been tried by fire before, but fire purifies. Fire makes things stronger. We have a plan. We know what to do. We are going to get these people. There is a path forward,” Anne E. Kirkpatrick, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent said.

Kirkpatrick touted the city’s declining murder rate as an example of its endurance and law enforcement’s commitment.

“Just two years ago, we were the murder capital of America. Today, from that time two years ago, we have driven our murder rate more than 50% down,” the superintendent said. “So we have a track record, but this is different, because it’s terrorism.”

The FBI investigates an area in the French Quarter in New Orleans on January 1.

The FBI is working to determine whether anyone worked with the suspect in the New Orleans crowd attack to place possible improvised explosive devices that have been found around the French Quarter near where the incident took place, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN.

These potential explosive devices are in addition to what was found in the suspect’s pickup truck. The FBI said at a news conference Wednesday that investigators do not believe the suspect was “solely responsible” and that weapons and potential IEDs were found in the vehicle.

The FBI also said bomb technicians are working to see whether any of the devices found in the French Quarter are viable and to render them safe. “As of now, two IEDs have been found and rendered safe,” Alethea Duncan, FBI assistant special agent in charge, said at the Wednesday news conference.

Officers have been searching the surrounding area in the historic area of New Orleans since the attack early Wednesday morning, one law enforcement source said.

The FBI is also in the process of executing searches at two locations in Texas, according to the source. The suspect has been identified by the bureau as Shamsud-Din Jabbar from Texas.

US Sen. John Kennedy called on those in the federal government to catch those responsible for the deaths resulting from a driver ramming into a crowd in New Orleans.

Earlier in the news conference, an FBI official said investigators do not believe that the driver “was solely responsible,” and that authorities were “aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates.”

“I will promise you this: When it is appropriate and this investigation is complete, you will find out what happened and who was responsible, or I will raise fresh hell,” Kennedy said. “And I will chase those in the federal government who are responsible for telling us what happened.”

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry speaks at a press conference in New Orleans on January 1.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry announced Wednesday he has issued an emergency declaration to bring together federal, state and local resources.

“Ironically, in preparation for the Super Bowl, I had intended to issue an emergency declaration tomorrow so that we could bring all our federal, state and local agencies to bear in preparation for the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras, but because of the events today, I have amended that emergency declaration and issued it today,” Landry said.

“That declaration would allow federal, state and local partners to bring all resources necessary to get this city safe,” he said.

He said he has also ordered a military police company to assist New Orleans Police, Louisiana State Police and the FBI.

“It is important for our citizens and guests of this state to know that we are doing everything we can to secure their safety in this city,” Landry added.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell speaks at a news conference in New Orleans on Wednesday.

New Orleans LaToya Cantrell expressed her gratitude for support, including from political leaders in the country and around the world, expressed in response to early Wednesday’s ramming attack on Bourbon Street.

“The mission now is to facilitate support and coordinate safety procedures to keep our residents and our visitors safe,” Cantrell said in a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

“We are committed, no doubt, to uncovering all details surrounding this tragedy, and we are taking every necessary step to put even more safety procedures in place, especially given the nature of the investigation,” she added.

The mayor asked that people not go near the scene “if there is no essential need to do so.”

Police vehicles are seen outside Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on January 1.

Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley announced Wednesday’s game will be postponed to Thursday in wake of the fatal New Year’s attack in New Orleans.

“It’s in the best interests of everybody and public safety that we postpone the game for 24 hours,” Hundley said at a news conference.

The annual college football game was to be held Wednesday night and draws fans from all over the country. This year’s Sugar Bowl will feature the University of Georgia and the University of Notre Dame, with the winner advancing to the College Football Playoff semifinals.

New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said Wednesday that officials “have a plan and we have been implementing that plan” to maintain the future safety of citizens at the game.

She said that plan includes implementing officers in the area and around Ceasar’s Superdome, where the Sugar Bowl will be held, to search for any suspicious items. The plan also includes having “bomb dogs” around the exterior of the Superdome area, which will be locked down throughout Thursday’s game.

CNN’s Jessie Yeung contributed reporting.

FBI investigators are searching for anyone who may have worked with Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the suspect in Wednesday’s deadly crowd attack in New Orleans, to plan or execute the assault.

“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible,” Alethea Duncan, FBI assistant special agent in charge, said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates.”

Duncan asked that anyone who interacted with Jabbar in the last 72 hours to contact the FBI and that anyone who has information, video or photos to provide the material to investigators.

FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan speaks at a press conference in New Orleans on January 1.

Officials identified the vehicle of the suspect involved in the fatal New Orleans New Year’s attack as a Ford pickup truck, which they said “appears to be rented.”

“We are working to confirm how the subject came in possession of this vehicle,” FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan said Wednesday at a media briefing.

She said an ISIS flag was located on the trailer hitch of the vehicle.

“The FBI is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations,” she added.

Weapons, as well as “potential improvised explosive devices,” otherwise known as IEDs, were also found in the vehicle, Duncan said. Officials also located IEDs in the French Quarter, she said.

“As of now, two IEDs have been found and rendered safe,” Duncan said. “The FBI special agent bomb technicians, as well as our local law enforcement partners, have been working to determine if any of these devices are viable, and they will work to render those devices safe.”

The Louisiana governor’s office, FBI, New Orleans Police Department and Louisiana State Police are holding a joint media briefing following the Bourbon Street incident that left 10 people dead and injured at least 35 during New Year’s celebrations in New Orleans.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne E. Kirkpatrick and Louisiana State Police Col. Robert P. Hodges are attending the briefing.

The suspect in Wednesday’s deadly crowd attack in New Orleans previously served in the US military, according to two US officials.

Earlier Wednesday, the FBI identified US citizen Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, of Texas as the suspect.

CNN has asked the Department of Defense for Jabbar’s service records.

New Orleans City Councilmember Jean-Paul Morrell said on Wednesday that barriers on Bourbon Street were in the process of being repaired, though the suspect drove over the sidewalk avoiding that particular area.

He continued, “So in this instance, even had the bollard barriers been up, the circumvention by riding on the sidewalk would have defeated them.”

Morrell also said the suspect was staying in an Airbnb before the attack, in which he rammed a pickup truck into a crowd during New Year’s celebrations on Bourbon Street.

“The vehicle was rented off of a vehicle rental site that wasn’t a traditional one. The individual, from what we understand, was in an Airbnb, and that’s where they, I guess, stayed before they came and instituted the attack,” he said.

Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies work the scene on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on January 1.

As investigators in New Orleans probe Bourbon Street looking for clues and anything else that can help them in the wake of the deadly attack during New Year’s celebrations in the French Quarter, the famed street may remain a crime scene, closed off for days, according to one city official.

“Expect Bourbon Street to be shut down roughly the next 48 hours or so, due to the fact that this is going to take some time to process the scene,” Helena Moreno, president of the New Orleans City Council, told CNN affiliate WVUE.

Moreno said city leaders are already discussing what should be done to keep the French Quarter neighborhood safe for locals and tourists alike.

“It could potentially mean having sand trucks at every entrance. It could mean concrete barriers. It could mean additional surveillance. It could mean all of these things,” she said.

The City Council president said security should be increased for the Super Bowl, which will be held in New Orleans next month.

“Whatever plan we had in place for the Super Bowl, for our safety — enhance it, triple it, make it stronger,” Moreno said.

Wednesday’s truck attack in New Orleans follows a long history of assailants turning cars and trucks into weapons. More than a dozen high-profile vehicle attacks on crowds have taken place in the past decade — many of them terror attacks. But other motives have also played a role.

Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen published a 2010 article called “The Ultimate Mowing Machine,” encouraging followers to “mow down the enemies of Allah.” It promoted the use of four-wheel-drive pickup trucks because “the stronger the better.”

“To achieve maximum carnage, you need to pick up as much speed as you can while still retaining good control of your vehicle in order to maximize your inertia and be able to strike as many people as possible in your first run,” the article said.

And in 2014, an ISIS spokesman called for followers to attack a “disbelieving American, Frenchman or any of their allies” and “run him over with your car” if needed.

The FBI is investigating Wednesday’s attack in New Orleans as “an act of terrorism,” and the suspect had an ISIS flag at the time of the incident. The FBI said it “is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.”

Here are a few of the high-profile vehicle attacks in recent years:

Nice, France: Authorities said Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel used a 20-ton truck to strike hundreds of people in Nice, where large crowds gathered to watch Bastille Day fireworks in July 2016. The attack killed 84 people and wounded more than 200 others.

ISIS said the attack was retaliation for France’s role in the fight against the terror group.

But then-French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Bouhlel had no record of making militant statements and was not believed to be a member of ISIS. “It seems he became radicalized very quickly,” Cazeneuve said.

Berlin, Germany: A tractor-trailer slammed into a crowd at a bustling Christmas market in December 2016, killing 12 people and injuring 48 others. The suspect, Anis Amri, was later killed in a shootout with police in Italy.

A video surfaced showing Amri pledging allegiance to ISIS, and the ISIS-affiliated Amaq news agency said the attack was carried out by “a soldier of the Islamic State” to target citizens of countries fighting ISIS.

Charlottesville, Virginia: A driver plowed into a group of demonstrators protesting against white nationalists and other far-right activists at the “Unite the Right” rally in August 2017. The attack killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injured 19 other people.

The driver, James Alex Fields Jr., was convicted by a Virginia jury of first-degree murder and nine other charges and pleaded guilty to 29 federal hate crimes. He was sentenced to life in prison by both a Virginia state judge and a federal judge, with the two sentences running consecutively.

Manhattan, New York: The driver of a rental truck jumped a curb and drove down the bicycle path along West Side Highway, killing eight people and injuring about a dozen others in October 2017.

Authorities found a note near the truck claiming the attack was made in the name of ISIS, a senior law enforcement official said. The suspect, Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, told investigators he was inspired by ISIS videos to use a truck “to inflict maximum damage against civilians,” according to court documents. He was convicted on 28 counts and was sentenced to life in prison.

Two Israeli citizens were injured in Wednesday morning’s attack in New Orleans, according to Israel’s foreign ministry.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Consulate General in Houston are in contact with the hospitals and the families of the injured,” the ministry said in a statement.

“At the direction of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, a representative of the consulate is on his way to New Orleans,” it added.

Sa’ar expressed his condolences for the families of the victims, writing on X that he was “deeply saddened by the terrorist attack in New Orleans.”

“My heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the victims. Wishing a swift recovery to the two injured Israeli citizens and all the wounded,” he added.

The FBI has identified the suspect in Wednesday’s deadly crowd attack in New Orleans as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar of Texas.

According to an FBI statement, other potential explosive devices were found in the French Quarter separate from where the man rammed into a crowd, killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens. FBI bomb technicians are working to determine whether any of the devices are viable.

The agency confirmed an ISIS flag was found in the vehicle and “is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.”

The FBI is asking anyone with information or video of the incident to submit them to fbi.gov/bourbonstreetattack or to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.

This post has been updated with additional information.

Ahead of the kickoff at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, an announcer honored the victims of the attack in New Orleans. At least 10 people were killed and 35 injured when a driver rammed a pickup truck into a crowd during New Year’s celebrations on Bourbon Street early on Wednesday morning.

Also, a moment of silence was held for late President Jimmy Carter before the Arizona State Sun Devils and Texas Longhorns took the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Following the deadly attack in New Orleans, where Super Bowl LIX is scheduled to be played next month, the National Football League said it is saddened by the news of the tragedy, but is confident in its security plans for the February 9 football game at the Superdome.

The league has been working with the local host committee, as well as with local, state and federal agencies, for two years to develop “comprehensive security plans,” it said in the statement. “These planning sessions will continue as they do with all major NFL events and we are confident attendees will have a safe and enjoyable Super Bowl experience.”

Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies work the scene on Bourbon Street on January 1 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

A student from the University of Georgia — one of the teams playing in the Sugar Bowl tonight in New Orleans — was critically injured in the French Quarter attack, according to the university’s president.

The name of the injured student was not immediately released.

The news came after the UGA Athletic Association had announced that “all team personnel and members of the official team travel party have been accounted for.”

The Georgia Bulldogs play the Notre Dame Fighting Irish tonight at Caesars Superdome in the quarterfinals of the newly expanded College Football Playoff.

“Today’s tragedy in the French Quarter is a sobering event that reminds us that life is precious and each day is to be cherished,” said Greg Sankey, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference.

Georgia is a member of the SEC. Notre Dame’s football program is independent.

The truck used in the attack in New Orleans was listed on the car rental site Turo, a car rental marketplace that has grown in recent years, the vehicle’s owner told CNN.

Turo, which describes itself as a “peer-to-peer car rental marketplace,” is an alternative to traditional car rental companies like Hertz or Avis. Similar to the way Airbnb allows people to rent out rooms or residences, Turo allows car owners to rent out vehicles. The company does not own any of the vehicles, but instead sets a market for car owners and car renters to connect, and takes a commission from each deal.

The marketplace boasts a broad selection of cars, including luxury vehicles like Teslas and Porsches, rather than just the economy cars that dominate many traditional rental fleets.

While there are some who rent out cars they otherwise would be driving themselves, many of the people renting out vehicles on the platform own vehicles with the intention of renting them out. Renters need a driver’s license, validated through the app, and must be 18 years old in the US, but they do not need personal car insurance.

Turo started in a couple of markets in 2010 and went national two years later.

Company response: The company did not respond to a request for comment. The site disabled the truck for renting on Wednesday morning.

The truck used in the attack that killed at least 10 people in New Orleans on New Year’s Day was listed on the car rental site Turo, the vehicle’s owner told CNN in a text message.

Two federal law enforcement officials also told CNN the truck did not belong to the suspect. One of the sources added it was rented on a site that owners use to rent out their own cars.

The vehicle, a white Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck, is registered to a Houston man who has worked for the car dealership where the vehicle was sold, according to public records based on the vehicle’s license plate. The man told CNN the vehicle was listed on Turo, a website that allows owners to rent out their vehicles to other people.

He did not answer additional questions about the renter or the truck.

One of the man’s listings on Turo is for a truck that matches the one used in the attack, although photos on the Turo page only have a temporary license plate and don’t show the same plate as the one in New Orleans.

Turo did not respond to a request for comment, but the site disabled the truck for renting Wednesday morning. Before it was disabled, the vehicle was listed as costing $105 a day, excluding taxes and fees, and it was unavailable to rent until 12:30 p.m. CST on Wednesday.

The FBI is continuing to investigate the suspect’s potential ties to Texas, one of the officials said.

The suspect in Wednesday’s deadly New Orleans crowd attack had an ISIS flag at the time of the incident, two law enforcement sources tell CNN.

One of the sources also said multiple suspected explosive devices were found in an ice chest in the pickup truck used in the attack.

The FBI, which is leading the investigation, has said it is treating the incident as an “act of terrorism.”

Investigators are looking into any possible associates of the suspect as well as the suspect’s political or religious views and whether the person is associated with a known terrorist organization.

Some background on ISIS: In 2019, ISIS lost its final stronghold in Syria, bringing an end to the so-called caliphate it had declared in 2014. However, it has expanded its presence in Africa, directing hundreds of attacks over the past years, in addition to dozens of others in their former strongholds of Iraq and Syria.

The US military has sought to quell a resurgence of ISIS in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, striking numerous ISIS camps and operatives.

One of the deadliest ISIS-linked attacks recently took place in March after assailants stormed a popular concert complex on the outskirts of Moscow and opened fire, killing over 130 people.

Additionally, ISIS has continued to inspire followers to wage attacks in the United States and around the world. In November, the FBI announced the arrest of a Texas man who allegedly created and disseminated ISIS propaganda and wanted to commit a “9/11-style” attack in the United States. In August, an ISIS-inspired suspect planned a suicide attack at Taylor Swift concert in Austria, according to local authorities.

CNN’s Kareem El Damanhoury contributed reporting to this post.

The suspect in Wednesday’s deadly New Orleans crowd attack was a US citizen, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

The suspect was born in Texas, two sources say.

Officials have not released additional information on the suspect, who died at the scene.

The vehicle attack on pedestrians on Bourbon Street in New Orleans early Wednesday morning left tourists in town for New Year’s festivities, music events, and sports stunned — especially those who witnessed it.

Kimberly Stricklin — visiting from Mobile, Alabama, to attend a concert with her husband — happened to be driving toward the intersection of Canal and Bourbon Streets, she told CNN affiliate WDSU, when a truck blasted through traffic.

Once the truck was stopped, the scene turned into pandemonium, according to Stricklin. “It was just, like, debris and everything, and then people. It was unreal, just total chaos,” she said.

April McGee told WDSU that she was lying in hotel bed, watching fireworks through the window of her hotel room, when she heard a noise that she thought was the “grand finale” of the show, only to find out later what really happened.

Only hours after the attack, the McGees decided to end their New Orleans trip early.

Correction: This post has been updated to correct the spelling of the name of a witness.

The FBI investigates the area by the St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Wednesday.

Beyond the tragedy of 10 deaths and dozens of injuries caused by the attack on the crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans early Wednesday, it also was a blow to the city’s critical tourism industry, which has still not recovered from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

How long the impact lasts is difficult to say.

“It’s too early to tell,” said Kelly Schulz, senior vice president of communications for New Orleans & Company, that city’s tourism association, when asked about how long the impact might be this time. “We’re monitoring right now, and we’re hoping it will be a short-term impact, not years like (Hurricane) Katrina.”

It took five years for visitors to return to New Orleans in numbers seen before the deadly 2005 hurricane. Visitors to New Orleans in 2023 were still 9% below the pre-Covid level and expected to fall just short of that 2019 mark when final 2024 data is available.

By comparison, the number of visitors to Las Vegas fell 1.7% between 2016 and 2017, when the largest mass shooting event in American history occurred there on October 1. It slipped another 0.2% in 2018. It had started to climb slightly in 2019 before the pandemic cut visitors there by half in 2020.

Tourism is critical to New Orleans’ economy, supporting an estimated 80,000 jobs. The New Year’s holiday, with college football’s Sugar Bowl, is among the busiest times of the year, although not as great as Mardi Gras. About 90% of the 26,000 hotel rooms within two miles of the football stadium were booked Tuesday night, according to Schulz.

The driver of a pickup truck that rammed into a crowd during New Year’s celebrations on Bourbon Street was shot and killed by police officers, the New Orleans Police Department said.

“After the vehicle came to a stop, the suspect reportedly opened fire on responding officers, who returned fire,” NOPD said.

Two NOPD officers were also shot in the gunfight, police said. They are in stable condition.

A total of 10 people were killed and at least 35 injured in attack, according to NOPD.

Authorities have not released any updates on the victims’ conditions.

People walk outside Cafe du Monde in New Orleans with an armed police officer standing nearby on January 1.

Life is continuing as normal outside New Orleans’ famous Cafe du Monde on Decatur Street, just a few blocks south of this morning’s attack.

A tuba player plays a mournful “Auld Lang Syne” and “The Star Spangled Banner” as dozens of customers wait to get a seat at the cafe.

One noticeable difference is the group of heavily armed police officers stationed outside the cafe. One customer walked among the officers, handing them small cups of coffee, which they accepted.

Georgia and Notre Dame fans are milling about wearing their team’s colors ahead of tonight’s Sugar Bowl game, but the mood among fans has been noticeably more subdued compared to previous days.

The college football playoff quarterfinal between Notre Dame and Georgia will still be played as scheduled at 8:45 p.m. ET at the Superdome stadium, located less than a mile from where the attack occurred.

Authorities have asked the public to steer clear of the investigation area.

President-elect Donald Trump has been briefed on the situation in New Orleans, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

He went on to comment on the crime rate in the US.

“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 crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before.”

According to FBI quarterly data released in 2024, New Orleans has seen a decline in violent crimes.

CNN has not been able to confirm the suspect’s citizenship status.

President Joe Biden said he’s “grateful for the brave and swift response of local law enforcement in preventing even greater death and injury,” after a driver rammed a truck into a New Year’s crowd in New Orleans early Wednesday morning.

“I have been continually briefed since early this morning by federal law enforcement leadership and my homeland security team, including Secretary of Homeland Security Ali Mayorkas, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall, and the Mayor of New Orleans regarding the horrific incident that occurred there overnight,” Biden wrote. “I have directed my team to ensure every resource is available as federal, state, and local law enforcement work assiduously to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible and to ensure that there is no remaining threat of any kind.”

At least ten people were killed and 35 injured in the attack, and the FBI is into any possible associates of the suspect who may have been involved.

“I will continue to receive updates throughout the day, and I will have more to say as we have further information to share,” Biden wrote Wednesday. “In the meantime, my heart goes out to the victims and their families who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday. There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities.”

Jose Lieras, a tourist to New Orleans from Los Angeles, told CNN affiliate WDSU that metal barricades at the intersection of Bourbon Street and Canal Street were not in a raised position during New Year’s festivities, seconding what an earlier eyewitness told CNN.

Lieras said he was surprised that vehicles were allowed to drive through the crowded street in the first place.

“I don’t know why they’re still letting cars go through Bourbon Street. Even last night, which I was there, there was still like, at midnight, 1 in the morning, there’s still cars driving by, even though there’s people walking all over the street. You’ve got to dodge cars,” he said. “So I don’t think they should let any vehicles at all. It should always be blocked off at nighttime because something like this could have happened.”

Another man, Michael Guillory, who works at a nearby hotel, told WDSU he’s “never” seen those steel barricades put up in seven years.

What we know: The steel barricades were installed in 2017 in the wake of the 2016 truck ramming attack in Nice, France, and various drunk driving crashes on Bourbon Street over the years. The barricades can be set in a flat or raised position to allow or prevent vehicles from the area.

New Orleans police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said Wednesday morning the attacker drove the vehicle “around our barricades in order to conduct this.”

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the department is “working closely with our law enforcement partners in response to the situation in New Orleans.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland also issued a statement Wednesday, saying: “My heart is broken for those who began their year by learning people they love were killed in this horrific attack, and my prayers are with the dozens who were injured, including the New Orleans Police Department Officers who risked their lives to save others.”

A local eyewitness who was on Bourbon Street for New Year’s Eve said the city’s steel mechanical barricades were not up and in position prior to the vehicle attack.

“Those barricades were not up, period,” Jimmy Cothran, a New Orleans resident of 15 years, told CNN. “They had the flimsy orange ones that you could just push over with your finger. We actually thought it was kind of odd.”

The steel barricades were installed in 2017, in the wake of the 2016 truck ramming attack in Nice, France, and various drunk driving crashes on Bourbon Street over the years. The barricades can be set in a flat or raised position to allow or prevent vehicles from the area.

A mechanical barricade, in the foreground of this photo, was in a flat position to allow vehicle access early Wednesday morning after the attack.

One of the barricades is positioned at the intersection of Canal Street, a car-centric four-lane thoroughfare, and Bourbon Street, the walkable street for pedestrian partiers. There are also multiple bollards every couple of blocks along Bourbon Street.

Cothran said he believes the barricade could have minimized the scale of destruction.

“It definitely would have been minimized because this truck cannot go around those barricades. Everything in New Orleans, in the French Quarter, has a balcony. All the balconies have poles, several steel poles, and there’s there’s no going around anything. If that barricade is up, that’s a wrap. That’s your end.”

What police said: New Orleans Police superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said Wednesday morning the attacker drove the vehicle “around our barricades in order to conduct this.” Police did not take questions.

The FBI is looking into any possible associates of the suspect in the deadly New Orleans crowd attack who may have been involved, a standard part of any investigation, law enforcement officials told CNN.

The FBI has said there is one suspect, who died at scene.

One of the officials told CNN that investigators believe the suspect emerged from the vehicle shooting, and was likely killed by police during an exchange of gunfire.

Investigators are also looking into possible connections the suspect may have had to Texas, the official said.

The FBI is sending resources to New Orleans, including evidence teams from Quantico, Virginia, which often happens in major incidents.

Jimmy Cothran, a New Orleans resident of 15 years who was at the scene of Wednesday’s attack, described the harrowing aftermath he witnessed.

Cothran told CNN’s Pamela Brown that he and his friend noticed “a lot was going on” on Bourbon Street at around 3 a.m., so they decided to go into a nearby nightclub. Within minutes, he said, a group of women ran in and pushed past the venue’s security guards to hide underneath tables. Cothran said he and his friend “didn’t take any chances” at the sign of trouble and ran upstairs to the club’s balcony area.

Cothran and his friend counted eight bodies, he said. He described the disturbing sight of corpses nearby, including a deceased woman who was “twisted up,” a “crushed” man with “tire tracks across his back,” as well as a “young, small girl” who they earlier saw dancing in the street who was now “completely flat in the middle.”

“Only a movie script could give you the images in my head,” he said.

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Witness on the scene recounts 'unimaginable' casualties after New Orleans tragedy

02:18 - Source: CNN

Zion Parsons paced up and down Royal Street Wednesday morning, trying to reach a friend he said was seriously injured in the Bourbon Street incident hours earlier.

Parsons, 18, said he came to Bourbon Street with some friends to celebrate the new year.

“It was just supposed to be for a few hours, you know, just chilling, wasn’t even going to drink, just have a nice time,” he said.

Parsons and his friends had just arrived to Bourbon Street when he said he heard “the screech of tires.”

He said he saw a vehicle “just barreling down the street, bro.”

Parsons said he was in between two friends. He and the friend in front of him sought shelter in a divot that was in between some of the bars on the street.

After the car passed, Parsons turned around and didn’t see his other friend.

“I just start screaming and yelling,” he said.

He turned and looked in the street and saw his friend seriously injured.

Further down the street, Parsons described seeing “bodies littered throughout the entire street.”

Parsons has been unable to get in touch with the friend he saw injured and is unsure of her condition.

Watch the interview:

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New Orleans witness says he cannot get in touch with injured friend

03:00 - Source: CNN

A general view inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium is seen prior to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on January 1 in Atlanta.

After 10 people died in what the FBI is investigating as a terrorist act in New Orleans, Atlanta police said they are ramping up security ahead of Wednesday’s Peach Bowl, scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. ET.

“We acknowledge the concerns raised following the events earlier this evening in New Orleans, LA,” the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement.

“In light of today’s development and as an added precaution, specialized units and additional personnel will be further deployed to the Downtown and Midtown areas to ensure the continued safety and security of residents and visitors,” APD said.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the City of New Orleans and the NOPD.”

Video captured the moment after a vehicle plowed through a crowd on Bourbon Street in the early morning hours of Wednesday.

Alex Birth-Mitchell captured the moment and shared with CNN that he feels lucky to be alive.

Birth-Mitchell was on Bourbon Street celebrating New Years like many others on Wednesday morning and had been visiting different establishments in the area.

He said he “visited several clubs, then walked up and down the street and had just gotten to this club when the truck came through plowing everyone down,” calling it “absolute chaos.”

He mentioned that once the incident took place, everyone was held inside the club he was at for hours before they were told to evacuate as they locked down the French Quarter.

Birth-Mitchell says he was able to skip the line to the club as he and his friends had wristbands on from earlier in the night. “If we would have been waiting outside, we would be dead maybe,” he added.

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Officers scramble in response to vehicle plowing through Bourbon Street

00:49 - Source: CNN

The Department of Homeland Security is coordinating with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners in the wake of this morning’s incident in New Orleans, according to a Homeland Security official.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is in touch with officials, including members of the Louisiana congressional delegation, the official said.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is on the scene of the New Orleans incident where at least 10 people were killed and dozens were injured when a driver rammed a pickup truck into a crowd during New Year’s celebrations on Bourbon Street.

“ATF is on the scene assisting our partners,” the federal agency said Wednesday, adding that no additional information is available.

In these kinds of investigations, the ATF can help investigate any incendiary devices found at a crime scene. The FBI, which is leading the investigation, previously said it was investigating at least one possible improvised explosive device found at the scene.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson walks following the passage of a spending legislation to avert a government shutdown on Capitol Hill in Washington on December 20, 2024.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson called the New Orleans attack “an act of pure evil” and demanded swift justice in a post on X Wednesday morning.

“The vicious attack on innocent people celebrating the New Year in New Orleans early this morning was an act of pure evil, and justice must be swift for anyone who was involved,” the speaker said. “Please join us in praying for the victims, their families, and the first responders and investigators on the scene.”

Johnson represents Louisiana’s 4th congressional district.

President Joe Biden spoke directly to New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell in the wake of this morning’s incident, a White House official said.

Throughout the morning, Biden also has been briefed by senior leadership at the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and his White House homeland security team.

Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy ensured that New Orleans “is prepared” after a fatal New Years Eve attack in the city killed 10 people and injured 30 others, adding that he is “extremely confident” that the upcoming Sugar Bowl will be safe.

“We have lots of events: Mardi Gras, Super Bowls — Super Bowl’s coming up — Final Fours, you name it, Taylor Swift concerts. And so there is a standard protocol that works, that works. And so I am very confident that the medical crews across the city were prepared and that the people are receiving all the care they need,” Cassidy told CNN’s Pamela Brown on Wednesday from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Cassidy said he was briefed on the situation by state police, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, and the secretary of Homeland Security. His staff has also asked for an FBI briefing for the federal investigation. He called the FBI’s investigation into the incident as an act of terrorism “significant.”

Cassidy’s message to grieving families in wake of the fatal incident is “to be strong.”

FBI investigators arrive at the scene in the French Quarter of New Orleans on January 1.

The FBI is investigating the deadly New Orleans incident at an “act of terrorism,” the bureau said in a statement.

“This morning, an individual drove a car into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing a number of people and injuring dozens of others,” the FBI said in a statement. “The subject then engaged with local law enforcement and is now deceased. The FBI is the lead investigative agency, and we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism.”

Earlier, an FBI agent said the incident was “not a terrorist event,” while the mayor called it a “terrorist attack.”

The FBI typically establishes certain factors to determine whether an incident can be treated as a terrorism investigation, which could explain the earlier discrepancy between federal and local officials.

The Sugar Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal between Notre Dame and Georgia will still be played as scheduled at 8:45 p.m. ET at the Superdome stadium in New Orleans, according to authorities, despite the deadly attack on New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street overnight.

Organizers of the annual football game said they are “devastated.”

“The Sugar Bowl Committee is devastated by the terrible events from early this morning. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” organizers said in a statement. “We are in ongoing discussions with authorities on the local, state, and federal levels and will communicate further details as they become available.”

The shocking running down of dozens of people early on New Year’s Day in New Orleans – in what police are calling a “very intentional” act – happened in the heart of the city’s bustling and historic tourist district, the French Quarter.

Witnesses reported bodies lying near the southern end of Bourbon Street, the narrow, pedestrian-friendly avenue filled with restaurants and music clubs tucked underneath blocks of distinctive balconies.

The truck charged down a block that is frequently closed to vehicular traffic and includes the Hard Rock Cafe. Just up the street is the renowned Galatoire’s, a beloved French restaurant that’s more than a century old.

Preservation Hall, a pilgrimage site for fans of traditional New Orleans jazz, sits a half-mile from the crime scene. Nearby is Jackson Square, New Orleans’ signature greenspace, where President George W. Bush delivered his 2005 speech promising the rebuilding of the city after Hurricane Katrina. The square is flanked by the towering St. Louis Cathedral and the legendary Café Du Monde.

On this New Year’s Day, a city known for rowdy celebrations and upbeat second line parades spilling out into the streets is in an eerie state of shock and mourning.

“I haven’t seen the French Quarter a ghost town like this, especially on a holiday,” said reporter Maddie Kerth with CNN affiliate WVUE.

Apart from the usual crowds of New Year’s partiers – and in addition to the fans in attendance for the Sugar Bowl – New Orleans played host to two major concerts on New Year’s Eve.

The electronic funk band STS9 played at the city’s Joy Theater, while bluegrass musician Billy Strings was at the University of New Orleans Lakefront Arena in the hours before Wednesday’s deadly attack.

The French Quarter also hosted the Allstate Sugar Bowl New Year’s Parade on Tuesday, with thousands watching floats and the University of Georgia and University of Notre Dame’s marching bands on Decatur Street, three blocks from the scene of Wednesday’s carnage.

Police cordon off the intersection of Canal and Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 1.

The New Year has begun with yet another “mass casualty incident,” and this time in the French Quarter in New Orleans, city officials said early Wednesday morning.

Ten people were killed and 30 were injured after a vehicle drove into a large crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street, according to the city’s official disaster preparedness agency, NOLA Ready.

Here’s what we know about the fatal incident:

The injured:

The suspect:

The scene:

Moments after New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell called Wednesday’s tragedy a “terrorist attack,” FBI Assistant Special Agent Alethea Duncan said, “this is not a terrorist event.”

But it’s not alarming to see officials “not maybe perfectly connected on how they’re going to message this and present it to the public at this early hour,” former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe told CNN Wednesday morning.

It’s possible the mayor used the term “terrorist attack” colloquially – without reflecting the FBI’s formal definition for terrorism, said Juliette Kayyem, CNN’s national security, intelligence and terrorism analyst.

But for the FBI to determine an act was terrorism, “you have to prove a certain kind of intent,” Kayyem said.

The FBI defines domestic terrorism as “violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.”

The agency defines international terrorism as “Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups who are inspired by, or associated with, designated foreign terrorist organizations or nations (state-sponsored).”

The mayor and the FBI agent did agree on which agency is now leading the investigation: the FBI.

The FBI “investigates many things for the purpose of determining whether or not they are terrorist acts,” McCabe said. “They could still be in the phase of trying to make that determination for themselves.”

GOP Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy called the attack in New Orleans “so tragic” in a post on X.

The suspect in the New Orleans attack is dead, a federal law enforcement official tells CNN.

Indications are that the suspect acted intentionally, the official said.

FBI and police are conducting searches of the vehicle as they seek to determine motive.

Police work the scene after a vehicle drove into a crowd on New Orleans' Bourbon Street.

President Joe Biden has been briefed after a driver rammed a pickup truck into a crowd during New Year’s celebrations on Bourbon Street in New Orleans early on Wednesday morning, the White House said in a statement.

Biden is in Wilmington, Delaware, where he attended a family wedding Tuesday night.

A mechanical barricade, in the foreground of the photo, can move a steel barrier into and out of position on New Orleans' Bourbon Street.

Bourbon Street, one of the busiest spots in the country for pedestrian partiers, is often – but not always – blocked off from vehicles by a series of barricades and bollards. Here are some of the security features around the area.

Mechanical barricades: In the wake of the July 2016 vehicle ramming attack in Nice, France, the city in 2017 installed several steel mechanical barricades in the French Quarter that can move into and out of position, according to NOLA.com. Police also use wooden and steel barricades and police vehicles to block roads at certain times.

New removable bollards: New Orleans has been replacing its old bollards with new removable stainless-steel bollards along several blocks that include the one where the attack unfolded. “The removable bollards will help close the street to cars during pedestrian-only times but will be stored away when the street is open to all traffic,” the city said. Construction began in November and was scheduled to continue through February.

What happened Wednesday morning: The man who drove a vehicle into a crowd of people at Bourbon Street “went around our barricades in order to conduct this,” police superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said. “He was hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.”

Visitors in New Orleans for New Year’s festivities and the Sugar Bowl are being told to stay away from the city’s most famous street, now a grisly crime scene.

“I’m asking the public to stay clear of eight blocks around Bourbon Street,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell said in a news conference Wednesday morning.

First responders from local, federal and state agencies have been at the scene since early Wednesday morning when calls first went out for help.

“Responding to a mass casualty incident. A vehicle ran into a crowd of people,” a New Orleans Fire Department dispatcher told first responders by radio. “There’s multiple injuries. Multiple casualties. They need you at Canal and Bourbon.”

As the investigation continues into the deadly scene of a truck mowing through pedestrians in the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans, federal law enforcement agents are also checking on possible improvised explosives at the scene.

“There were improvised explosive devices that was found, and we are working on confirming if it’s a viable device or not,” said Alethea Duncan, Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the FBI’s New Orleans office.

Duncan declined to answer reporters asking for more details about how many suspected devices they are examining.

Video from CNN affiliate WDSU showed a law enforcement robot being used to examine the underside of the vehicle.

New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick speaks during a press conference on Wednesday.

It seems most of the 30 people injured by the car that rammed into a crowd in New Orleans early Wednesday were local residents, not visitors, the city’s police chief said.

The attack in the French Quarter happened hours before the city is set to host the Sugar Bowl college football game, which draws hordes of fans from across the country.

On the suspect: Kirkpatrick said a man had driven a truck intentionally at high speed into the crowd of New Year’s revelers and also shot two police officers, who are in stable condition.

Police did not say whether the man was in custody or what his condition might be.

A man driving a pickup truck down Bourbon Street “at a very fast pace” killed 10 people and fired on New Orleans Police officers, striking two who are in stable condition, police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said Wednesday morning.

“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,” Kirkpatrick said.

The FBI will be taking over the investigation, according to Kirkpatrick.

Investigators are certain that the person who drove a vehicle through a crowd in the French Quarter on Wednesday morning did not do so accidentally, the leader of the New Orleans Police Department said.

“It did involve a man driving a pickup truck down Bourbon Street at a very fast pace, and it was very intentional behavior,” said police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick. “This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could.”

The superintendent added police don’t think what happened was the result of impairment.

“It was not a DUI situation,” she said. “This was more complex and more serious based on the information we have right now.”

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell speaks during a press conference about the deadly incident on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on January 1.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has released initial information on the attack that killed 10 people early on New Year’s Day.

“We do know that the city of New Orleans was impacted by a terrorist attack,” Cantrell said, noting the incident is still under investigation.

Shortly later, an FBI agent told reporters, “This is not a terrorist event.” It was not immediately clear why the mayor and the FBI had differing information.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry has called Wednesday morning’s deadly incident on Bourbon Street, in which at least 10 people were killed after a driver hit a crowd, a “horrific act of violence” and asked for prayers for victims and first responders in a post on X.

An ambulance arrives at the scene in New Orleans on Wednesday.

The 30 people injured when a driver hit a crowd on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street have been sent to the following hospitals, according to the city’s disaster preparedness site, NOLA Ready:

Ten people were also killed, according to NOLA Ready, with emergency responders and officials on scene now.

New Orleans – and specifically the French Quarter, the city’s vibrant historic center where Bourbon Street is located – was still in the throes of New Year’s celebrations when the vehicle ran into a crowd early Wednesday.

Crowds had gathered to attend an open-air concert and New Year’s countdown, with restaurants offering special deals and performances, according to the city’s official website. LGBTQ parties featuring dancing and drag cabaret were taking place elsewhere on Bourbon Street, the heart of the city’s gay community – just blocks from where the incident took place.

Many celebrations had been aimed at college football fans descending on the city for the Allstate Sugar Bowl, which is scheduled to take place Wednesday — including a parade that had taken place Tuesday.

On Monday, the New Orleans Police Department had said it would be staffed “at 100 percent” during the festivities, adding it had 300 additional officers assisting from partner law enforcement agencies.

It would also work with local, state and federal partners to provide security coverage citywide, the police statement said, adding that they would deploy “a strong presence of marked and unmarked police vehicles, as well as officers on foot, bike, and horseback.”

And on Tuesday, police said they would deploy drones around the 8th District, where the French Quarter is, throughout the New Year’s Eve festivities and Sugar Bowl events.

Police work the scene of the deadly incident in the French Quarter of New Orleans on January 1.

The deadly incident in the early hours of Wednesday morning, in which at least 10 people were killed after a vehicle drove into a crowd in New Orleans, took place on Bourbon Street — famous for its nightlife — where many were celebrating on New Year’s Eve.

The city is also preparing to host The Sugar Bowl on Wednesday night. The annual college football game draws fans from all over the country; this year’s Sugar Bowl will feature the University of Georgia and the University of Notre Dame, with the winner advancing to the College Football Playoff semifinals.

Eyewitnesses described New Year’s Eve revelry turning into horror when a vehicle crashed into a crowd on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens more.

Another witness, 22-year-old Whit Davis from Shreveport, Louisiana, told CNN the incident occurred while he was leaving a nightclub on Bourbon Street.

“Everyone started yelling and screaming and running to the back, and then we basically went into lockdown for a little bit and then it calmed down but they wouldn’t let us leave,” Davis said.

Police told people on the scene to put their phones away and leave as soon as possible, Davis said.

Ten people were killed and 30 injured after a vehicle drove into a large crowd in New Orleans, on Canal and Bourbon Street, according to the city’s official disaster preparedness agency, NOLA Ready.

Read the full statement:

First responders work the scene of a "mass casualty incident" in the French Quarter of New Orleans on January 1.

A “mass casualty incident” has occurred in the French Quarter of New Orleans, emergency officials said early Wednesday.

“There has been a mass casualty incident on Canal and Bourbon Street. Get yourself away from the area,” NOLA Ready, the city’s emergency preparedness campaign said in a post on X.

No further details were available.