At least 10 people were killed and 35 injured when a pickup truck was driven into a crowd on Bourbon Street early Jan. 1, 2025, near the intersection of Conti Street. (Photo by Theron Sapp/Courtesy WVUE-TV)

NEW ORLEANS — At least 10 people were killed and 35 injured early Wednesday after a pickup truck tore through Bourbon Street where crowds were celebrating the arrival of the New Year.

The driver of the truck, who the FBI identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar of Texas, was killed after a shootout with police in which two officers were wounded, New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said.

Weapons and a “potential IED,” or improvised explosive device, were founding inside the truck, and an ISIS flag was placed atop a pole on the truck’s trailer hitch, according to the FBI.

The police officers who were shot were taken to University Medical Center and were in stable condition, according to the police chief. She said the same facility is also treating 26 of the injured people, and others have been taken to other local hospitals.

At around 3:15 a.m., the driver of the truck steered around a police barricade at Canal Street meant to keep vehicles off of Bourbon Street and sped into a crowd, New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said. It appears the truck was able to travel three blocks before colliding with a lift vehicle near Conti Street.

“He was hellbent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did,” the police chief said.

Alathea Duncan, the FBI’s assistant special agent in charge for the New Orleans district, said it is believed Jabbar did not act alone, and agents are looking into possible accomplices.

One of the people killed has been identified as 18-year-old Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux of Gulfport, Mississippi, The Times-Picayune reported. She had accompanied her cousin and friend to the French Quarter for New Year’s Eve, her mother said.

Protective bollards weren’t deployed

Steel bollards that rise from the street were installed along and near Bourbon Street in 2017 to protect pedestrians, but they were not deployed and are in the process of being replaced according to the city’s Department of Public Works website.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the bollards were being replaced in advance of the Super Bowl, which New Orleans will host Feb. 9. Kirkpatrick said police vehicles were in place at the bollard sites, but Jabbar was able to drive on the sidewalk around those barriers.

The FBI is investigating the incident as an act of terrorism. Bomb squad personnel were seen entering the French Quarter, where the FBI said other “potential” explosive devices were located. Several small booms were heard blocks away, which City Council members said were controlled detonations to clear possible IEDs.

An eight-block stretch of Bourbon Street remains closed to traffic, and some hotels in the French Quarter have been evacuated as a precautionary measure. The public is being asked to avoid a large portion of the historic neighborhood, which typically sees crowds larger than typical weekends for New Year’s Eve.

Hospitality and service industry employees reporting for work Wednesday morning were being turned away from cordoned-off areas.

New Orleans is hosting fans of the University of Georgia and Notre Dame for the Sugar Bowl. The college football playoff quarterfinal was scheduled for 7:45 p.m. Wednesday night at the Superdome, but the game has been postponed for 24 hours, Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley said.

Landry said he planned to attend the Sugar Bowl, emphasizing the event will be held safely, and he will order flags at state buildings flown at half staff in memory of the lives lost Wednesday morning.

University of Georgia President Jere Morehead confirmed on social media that a student. from the school “was critically injured in the attack and is receiving medical treatment.”

Multiple news sources reported the Superdome was locked down Wednesday morning for a security sweep. The venue will also host Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9.

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon in New Orleans, Gov. Jeff Landry said he has signed an executive order to declare an emergency in order to expedite state resources to New Orleans to assist local and federal investigators. A military police company of 100 soldiers from the Louisiana National Guard is also being assigned to New Orleans, the governor said.

President-elect Donald Trump called the incident “pure evil” in a post on his Truth Social platform.

The NOPD is asking anyone trying to connect with family who they believe were in the area to call 311, and not 911, for more information.

This is a developing story that will be updated.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.