Latest New Orleans: Multiple fatalities after SUV crashes into New Year’s Eve partygoers on Bourbon Street

There was heightened security in the city, especially in the famous French Quarter, when the attack took place on Wednesday morning.

The New Orleans Police Department had said Monday that it would be staffed “at 100 percent” and that another 300 officers would assist.

In a statement, police said they would deploy “a strong presence of marked and unmarked police vehicles, as well as officers on foot, bicycles and horseback.”

Video shared on social media of the aftermath of the attack shows injured bodies lying on Bourbon Street.

People are seen standing over the bodies, which lie in pools of blood, apparently in shock as officials run through the area with long guns.

Authorities in New Orleans have ordered people to stay away from Bourbon Street while they investigate the incident.

Eyewitnesses have spoken to US media about the moment an SUV rammed into a crowd of pedestrians celebrating the New Year on Bourbon Street.

Kevin Garcia, 22, told CNN:

All I saw was a truck hitting everyone on the left side of Bourbon’s sidewalk. A body came flying towards me.

Whit Davis, also 22, added:

Everyone started yelling and screaming and running to the back, and then we basically went into lockdown for a while and then it calmed down, but they wouldn’t let us leave.

When they finally let us out of the club, the police gestured us where to walk and told us to leave the area quickly. I saw a few dead bodies that they couldn’t even hide and countless people receiving first aid.

So far, we haven’t had a statement from the New Orleans Police Department, but we have heard from the city’s official emergency preparedness agency, NOLA Ready.

The 8th Precinct is currently working on a mass casualty incident where a vehicle drove into a large crowd at Canal and Bourbon streets. There were 30 injured patients transported by NOEMS (New Orleans Emergency Medical Services) and 10 fatalities. Public safety partners are responding to the scene. Updates will follow as they are received.

A man, who claimed to have witnessed the incident while on Bourbon Street with his wife, wrote on X that he saw an SUV “speeding” down the road and “running people over.”

Another alleged witness told WLWT she saw the vehicle hit the crowd and started running, claiming she could only escape “by the grace of God.”

The woman also claimed that several officers opened fire on the vehicle in an attempt to get the driver to stop, the TV news station reported.

Bourbon Street, famous for its many bars and clubs, is reportedly closed while investigators work on the scene.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the New Orleans Police Department for more information.

At least 10 people have been killed and 30 injured after an SUV plowed into crowds celebrating New Year’s Eve on a popular New Orleans party street.

The driver rammed into a large group near the intersection of Bourbon Street and Canal Street around 3:15 a.m. local time on Wednesday, city officials confirmed.

Witnesses claim the suspect was “wearing full body armor” and “armed with an assault rifle,” according to social media posts.

Dozens of police officers responded to what authorities declared a “mass casualty event” and part of the road was cordoned off. Paramedics, ambulances and vehicles from the coroner’s office were also seen at the scene.

Ambulances transported the injured to area hospitals, the city added, and police continue to investigate the incident.