New Orleans Driver ‘Was Hell-Bent on Creating Carnage’ in Incident that Left 10 Dead, Police Say 

January 2, 2025 Duy191098 Blog 0

The driver was killed in a gunshot exchange with police after crashing his pickup truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street early on New Year’s Day

Updated on January 1, 2025 09:07AM EST

Superintendent of Police for the New Orleans Police Department Anne Kirkpatrick makes a statement after a vehicle drove into a crowd on New Orleans' Canal and Bourbon Street, Wednesday Jan. 1, 2025
Superintendent of Police for the New Orleans Police Department Anne Kirkpatrick makes a statement after a vehicle drove into a crowd in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025. Photo: AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

More information is being released about the deadly incident in New Orleans when a driver plowed into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in the city’s popular French Quarter. 

The crash, which occurred at 3:15 a.m. local time on Wednesday, Jan. 1, has left 10 people dead and more than 35 injured and being treated in local hospitals. 

New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Chief Anne Kirkpatrick shared details of the event in an early morning press conference, telling reporters, “It did involve a man driving a pickup truck down Bourbon Street at a very fast pace. It was very intentional behavior. This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could. It was not a DUI situation. This is more complex and serious based on the information we have.”

Kirkpatrick added that the man then fired on NOPD officers after crashing his vehicle, leaving two officers shot but in “stable” condition. PEOPLE previously confirmed that the driver of the vehicle was shot and killed in the exchange with police. 

Police cordon off the intersection of Canal Street and Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 1, 2025
Police at the intersection of Canal Street and Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025. MATTHEW HINTON/AFP via Getty

“We had over 300 officers out here,” Kirkpatrick said of the busy area of Bourbon Street, “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 he did.”

Kirkpatrick also said the FBI was taking over the investigation. Assistant Special Agent in charge of FBI New Orleans Alethea Duncan then told reporters, “This is not a terrorist event. What it is right now is there are improvised explosive devices that was found, and we are working on confirming if this is a viable device or not.”

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.     

Officials did not take reporter questions, saying there would be further updates at an 11 a.m. press conference on Jan. 1. 

“There’s much to enjoy about New Orleans, and we are going to make sure that our routes and the Super Dome are safe today for the game,” Chief Kirkpatrick said, referencing the Sugar Bowl game scheduled to be held later today in the city.

“And yeah, we had this tragic event and we’re sorry to everyone in our community, but we do want you to go about the day. As we say, just stay away from Bourbon,” Kirkpatrick added.