: [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: An earlier version of this segment incorrectly stated the Sugar Bowl was played on December 31st, 2024. The Sugar Bowl is scheduled to take place on the evening of January 1, 2025.]
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Our best understanding so far about the incident in New Orleans that the FBI is calling an act of terrorism - a pickup truck early this morning plowed into a crowd celebrating the New Year on Bourbon Street. At least 10 people were killed - dozens injured. Police say they then shot and killed the suspect, the driver of this pickup truck. He reportedly opened fire on responding officers in the last seconds of his life. Drew Hawkins of Gulf States Newsroom is at his base in New Orleans and following this. Good morning.
DREW HAWKINS, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: If we can say that on this New Year's morning in New Orleans.
HAWKINS: Right.
INSKEEP: Sorry for your city's loss. What can you tell us about this incident?
HAWKINS: So, you know, at this point, we know that it was a deliberate attack. The police superintendent, Anne Kirkpatrick, said that this was not a DUI. In an early morning press conference, she said, quote, "he was hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did." And in another early morning press conference, New Orleans Mayor, LaToya Cantrell, started by describing it as a terrorist attack. And minutes later, at the same press conference, an FBI representative said, this is not a terrorist attack, but, you know, they have since confirmed that they are investigating it as an incident of terror. So initially, a lot of confusion from official statements.
INSKEEP: And we have some information from police superintendent Kirkpatrick, which gives us an idea of why they would say this is very clearly a deliberate act. Let's listen to a little bit of that.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ANNE KIRKPATRICK: What I also can tell you is that this man, this perpetrator, he fired on our officers from his vehicle when he crashed his vehicle. Two of our officers have been shot. They are stable.
INSKEEP: That's the police superintendent. Drew, what are you hearing from eyewitnesses about how they experienced that moment?
HAWKINS: Yeah. You know, I talked to two people who were visiting to celebrate New Year's Eve. And Steve, it's also - the Sugar Bowl is tonight, which is a huge college football game. So there's a lot of people in town right now. I spoke with Jim Mauer (ph) and his wife, Nicole (ph), and they were visiting from Des Moines, Iowa. And what they described was walking down Bourbon Street and they hear this crashing sound behind them. They turn around and they see that white pickup truck speeding down the road, accelerating intentionally, plowing through barricades, as well as crowds of revellers before they actually managed to jump out of the way into an alcove just in time for the truck to miss them. And what they described was a scene of chaos and carnage.
JIM MAUER: I think we, alone, probably saw five, six, seven bodies in the road, approached them, checked on them. The bodies we saw were very clearly deceased. We were hoping to provide some first aid to the bodies we came across, but were very clearly deceased.
INSKEEP: And we now know the suspect is also deceased, but what is known about him, Drew?
HAWKINS: Yeah. We do know that he was killed in a gunfight with police on Bourbon Street after crashing that white pickup truck on Bourbon Street. But we don't know anything about who he is, where he's from or what his motivations would be. You know, there's only been one official press conference this morning. There's another one scheduled in a couple of hours, so I'm sure we will learn more then. And like you said at the top, the FBI is investigating this as an act of terror. So I think we will learn more since we have the federal government involved in looking into this.
INSKEEP: Drew Hawkins, thanks so much.
HAWKINS: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: And I'll just mention how much we don't know at this point. You're going to find on social media plenty of instant answers, people who know things, people who have video that obviously show things. It's good to wait. We will wait for the best information we have. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
