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At least 30 injured after pickup truck plows into crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street.

At least 10 people have been killed and 30 injured after a pickup truck drove into a crowd in Louisiana state’s New Orleans, local police said.

Following Wednesday’s incident on Canal and Bourbon Street, the New Orleans emergency preparedness programme, or NOLA Ready, advised people to stay away from the area.

“It did involve a man driving a pickup truck down Bourbon Street at a very fast pace, and it was very intentional behavior,” Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told reporters.

“This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could … it was not a DUI situation,” she added. Kirkpatrick revealed that two police officers were shot by the perpetrator, noting that they were in “stable” condition.

Earlier, CBS News, citing witnesses, reported that a truck had crashed into the crowd at high speed, and then the driver got out and started firing a weapon, with police returning fire.

New Orleans mayor said the incident was a “terrorist attack”.

Earlier, the New Orleans police said they were responding to the “mass casualty incident”, including deaths.

“The 8th District is currently working [on] a mass casualty incident involving a vehicle that drove into a large crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street. There are 30 injured patients … and 10 fatalities,” NOLA Ready said in a statement.

Videos shared online and verified by Al Jazeera show people fleeing the scene of the incident after gunshots ring out.

“A horrific act of violence took place on Bourbon Street earlier this morning,” the governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, said on X, urging people to stay away from the area where the attack took place.

The injured have been taken to at least five different hospitals, according to NOLA Ready.

The incident came towards the end of New Year’s celebrations in New Orleans and hours before the kickoff of the Allstate Bowl, a college football quarterfinal held in the city’s Caesars Superdome, with thousands expected to be in attendance.

New Orleans has seen shootings and cars colliding with crowds at past parades.

In November 2024, two people were killed and 10 others injured in two separate shootings along a New Orleans parade route and celebration attended by thousands, local media reported.

In February 2017, a pickup truck driven by a man who police said appeared to be highly intoxicated plowed into a crowd of spectators watching the main Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, injuring more than 20 people.