Ten people were killed in New Orleans when a car crashed into a crowd of people

Ten people were killed and 35 others were subsequently injured A man deliberately drove into a large crowd in New Orleans and then began firing a weapon, police said.

Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said the attacker drove a pickup truck down Bourbon Street “very quickly… trying to run over as many people as possible” at around 03:15 (08:15 GMT). He crashed into the barricades and then shot and wounded two police officers.

She said the man was “intent on causing the carnage and the damage he did.” The police did not reveal any information about the attacker’s condition.

One witness told the BBC that he “passed by dead and wounded bodies all over the street” following the incident.

A CBS reporter saw several people injured on the ground at the intersection of Bourbon and Canal streets.

A video clip, verified by the BBC, shows a person lying on the ground and a crowd of people dispersing as what appears to be gunshots are heard. Another clip shows two wounded people lying in the street.

Whit Davis, from Shreveport, Louisiana, told the BBC that he was at a bar in the Bourbon Street area when the attack occurred. The sound of collision and gunfire was not heard because the music was very loud.

He added: “People started running and getting under the tables as if it was shooting training. Then the police detained us in the bar for a while, and when we were finally allowed to leave, we were walking past the bodies of the dead and wounded all over the street.” He said.

“Everyone was in complete shock,” he added. “I visit New Orleans frequently and have never seen anything close to this bad.”

FBI Special Agent Althea Duncan, who is leading the investigation, said an improvised explosive device was also found at the scene, and they are working to confirm whether it is “workable.”

Jim and Nicole Maurer, who were visiting New Orleans from Iowa, told CBS they were in the French Quarter when they heard crashes in the street.

They said they saw a white truck smashing into a checkpoint “at high speed,” and then heard gunshots after the sounds of the collision.

“We stayed in the alcove until the shooting stopped, and we went out into the street, and we met many people who were injured. [we] “We wanted to see what we could do to help,” Nicole said.

They tried to help the people they found injured, but they realized that the victims were dead. They said the truck hit people a short distance from where they were walking.

The couple said that the victims they saw were injured as a result of the truck collision, and they did not see any gunshot wounds. They said they left the area once emergency responders arrived.

Police said initial reports seemed to indicate that the majority of the victims were local residents.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said in a post on X that he was “praying for all the victims and first responders at the scene.”

“A horrific act of violence occurred on Bourbon Street earlier this morning,” Landry wrote.