At least 10 people are dead and 30 more injured after a vehicle struck a crowd on a popular nightlife street in New Orleans overnight, according to local officials.
The vehicle plowed into New Orleans’s famed Canal and Bourbon Street in the city’s French Quarter neighborhood, causing what officials called a “mass casualty incident” in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Those injured were taken to five hospitals, according to NOLA Ready, the city’s emergency preparedness agency.
Several witnesses told CBS News that a white truck crashed into the crowd at a high speed, before the driver got out and began firing a weapon. Police returned fire, according to CBS, which cited eye-witness accounts.
Bourbon Street is well known for its nightlife, and the city had prepared for large crowds celebrating New Year’s. The city also expected an influx of visitors for the College Football Playoff Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame at the Caesar’s Superdome, scheduled for Wednesday.
The Hill requested comment from the New Orleans Police Department.
