Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

10 Dead, 35+ Injured In New Orleans "Mass Casualty Incident"; FBI Investigating Possible Explosive Devices At Scene; NOLA Police Superintendent: Suspect "Hellbent On Creating Carnage." Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired January 01, 2025 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:53]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we continue to follow this really troubling breaking news on this New Year's Day. Ten killed, dozens injured after a vehicle plowed into a crowd in New Orleans in the French Quarter.

You're looking at live pictures right now -- this is from EarthCam -- of just the scene. Normally you would expect to see a bustling, busy French Quarter in the heart of New Orleans but now you see no one. You see strewn -- it looks like confetti along the ground, and you see police officers and law enforcement officers right there -- again, as this news unfolds.

We want to go now to the scene in New Orleans. CNN affiliate WDSU's Cassie gives us a look at what's going on, on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASSIE SCHIRM, REPORTER, WDSU: What my sources are saying from NOPD and, in fact, some of the other law enforcement agencies are here. They're saying they are treating this as intentional. And that's why the FBI has now taken over the scene as well as homicide units here for NOPD.

So we are expecting it to be locked down for quite some time because there is a lot of areas that this hit as more than 27 people impacted. I heard from Aubrey 30 people transported. We are hearing that number is still 12. Two officers possibly hit as well by bullets.

This is a very developing scene. And I can show you right now the scene behind me. More and more officers keep coming to the scene. We did see the bomb squad as they were in that area as well -- what Fletcher was talking about earlier. One of my sources is telling me that they believe that there was a package that may have been even connected to that car that drove in.

They are just taking every precautionary measure they can because in some cases like this you never know if there is a second attack that could possibly happen. So that's why they have removed so many people from this area. I will tell you they are being very strict but very, very polite in trying to make sure that people are just keeping safe because guys, this is a very tense situation.

You can see all those officers in the middle there. We have obviously those who are on the mounted patrol right in front of us here. They've been blocking the area. We can't even really look down Bourbon Street anymore because of how many officers are here. We have state police over there in the middle talking with NOPD as we speak. We also have EMS, and fire is here as well. They are a little bit further down.

But walking all the way down the street here on Canal you cannot move. You cannot get any further.

And I'll tell you right now I'm seeing people as we speak right now walking down the sidewalk here in sequins and sparkles. I mean, people have been out and about enjoying the New Year's celebration.

I mean, just last night we had thousands down in Jackson Square who were just here to celebrate and see the (audio gap) those fireworks. And so we had a lot of people out and about and especially around 3:00 a.m. Usually that's when the crowds start to at least get a little bit quieter when it comes --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- some preliminary information on what has taken place. Because this is an active investigation, we want to make our citizens aware of what is taking place and there will be --

FREEMAN: Just for viewers, we're listening to a press conference right now updating on this horrific scene in New Orleans. We'll take a listen now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we'll be at police headquarters. If that changes, we will let you know -- and for 3:00 p.m. And with that we will get our group behind us to assemble. As I said, we will have three to four of our leaders speaking. We won't be able to take questions because we are still actively investigating this situation.

And with that we're going to assemble, so let's get in position for where you are.

FREEMAN: And again, we're standing by waiting for more updates from this press conference with officials here in New Orleans. That's what we just heard a little bit from. Again, we're waiting for more information as we follow this developing, disturbing, horrific story on this New Year's Day morning of 10 dead, 30 injured in the heart of New Orleans -- in the French District by Bourbon Street and Canal Street.

[07:35:10]

We have with us -- as we wait for more from local officials there, we have with us still Andy McCabe and Jean Casarez. Jean, I want to go to you first. Can you bring us up to speed? We've

been talking about this all morning. What do we know so far when it comes to what exactly happened in New Orleans a few hours ago?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Well, what CNN has confirmed is that it was at the corner of Bourbon Street and Canal Street right in the heart of the French Quarter. And that is when a car drove, plowed, struck -- the proper terminology --

FREEMAN: Jean, I'm sorry. I'm going to -- I'm going to stop you for a second. I believe we have the press conference starting now with the mayor of New Orleans.

MAYOR LATOYA CANTRELL, NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA: Good morning. First of all, we do know that the city of New Orleans was impacted by a terrorist attack. It's all still under investigation. You'll hear more after me. However, I have been in direct contact with the White House, with Gov. Landry, and, of course, a unified command who is present here.

What I'm asking at this time are prayers for those who have lost their lives in the city of New Orleans due to this tragedy. In addition to that I'm asking the public to stay clear of eight blocks around Bourbon Street. Stay clear from Bourbon Street eight block around. Very active and again, a unified command is in place right now.

I'm going to ask Chief Kirkpatrick to give you an update. You're then going to hear from our agent in charge relative to the FBI. So at this time, Chief Kirkpatrick.

ANNE KIRKPATRICK, NEW ORLEANS SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE: Thank you. All right, good morning, everyone.

So I'm going to give you as much of the information I possibly can. We are going to give you an update a couple of times today. So we will give you just the basics this morning, all right?

We had this event started at about 3:15. It did involve a man driving a pickup truck down Bourbon Street at a very fast pace and 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 more serious based on the information we have right now.

With respect to numbers we have, right now -- and as you already know, this could change throughout the day. We do know that there are 26 injured people who are at UMC Hospital. We know we have four at Touro, four at Ochsner Baptist, one at Tulane. But even as I was walking out the door, I believe I have an unconfirmed additional people who have been taken to other area hospitals possibly on the east side. But we will give you as many correct numbers as we can as the day progresses.

It is a very tragic situation for me to tell you that we know we have 10 people that this man killed on Bourbon Street. That is why we do not want anyone on Bourbon Street today. Wherever you see yellow tape please do not violate this tape. This is in order to protect and stabilize the scene. We have information to a certain degree of the demographics of those

who are in the hospital right now. We do not know at this point how many could be tourists versus locals, but from the information I have right now it seems the majority are locals versus tourists.

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. And we will give you an update on them. I have yet been able to go to the hospital. I will be leaving here for us to go visit our officers.

[07:40:00]

We have called in every officer that we have. We have so much appreciated our partnerships who have also offered us staff. Last night we had over 300 officers out here. And because of the intentional mindset of this perpetrator who went around our barricades in order to conduct this, he was hellbent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.

Because of the nature and the indices that we have on the scene -- and we have enough information that the FBI will be taking over this investigation.

And with that I am going to be asking -- this is the assistant agent in charge. This is agent Duncan -- special agent Duncan and she has taken over this case on behalf of us and the FBI. As always, we will be in partnership with all of our partners. But agent Duncan, if you want to have a few words.

ALETHEA DUNCAN, ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI, NEW ORLEANS: Thank you, ma'am. Good morning. My name is Duncan. I am the assistant special agent in charge for FBI New Orleans.

As Chief Kirkpatrick said, we will be taking over the investigative lead for this event. 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 it's a viable device or not.

As Chief Kirkpatrick said, we are asking everyone to stay away from Bourbon Street -- specifically, from Canal Street to St. Ann. That is my ask. Once again, stay away from Bourbon Street, Canal Street, all the way to St. Ann until we can figure out what is going on.

Our goal is to provide you additional information at the 11:00 a.m. press conference.

Thank you so much, and we will be in touch.

KIRKPATRICK: Yes. I will say that we want our community and our visitors to continue enjoying. There's so much to enjoy about New Orleans. And we are going to make sure that our routes and the Superdome are safe today for the game. And yet, we had this tragic event. And we're sorry, again, to everyone in our community. But we do want you to go about the day. As we say, just stay away from Bourbon, OK? REPORTER: Could you elaborate on the device? You did say something about the device.

KIRKPATRICK: We actually are not going to be taking questions this morning until we have more information. That's why we will give you an 11:00 briefing. So until then please hold your questions. We will give you everything that we possibly can, OK? So, 11:00 we will see you at the headquarters and we will go again from there, OK?

REPORTER: But for the police --

KIRKPATRICK: No questions. No questions right now.

REPORTER: The device is confirmed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you all. We will see you later at 11:00 a.m.

FREEMAN: All right. So what you just heard right there was an update from local officials in New Orleans. The mayor there speaking and the police chief speaking as well. And then also the FBI speaking as well because they announced that they will be taking over this investigation.

We learned a tremendous amount of information from that press briefing. First off, that this incident started around 3:15 in the morning in New Orleans in the French Quarter. That there was a man driving a pickup truck and that this was very intentional behavior. The police chief there saying that this was not a DUI situation; that this person was trying to run people over, and also saying that he was "hellbent on creating carnage."

Another thing that we learned from that press briefing is that the man who was in this pickup truck who allegedly -- or according to police drove down Bourbon Street trying to hit people also fired on New Orleans police officers after -- I guess it seems he crashed his car and that two officers were shot by this suspect.

One of the other things that came up in this press briefing was that it sounded like the FBI said there -- the assistant special agent in charge -- that there was an improvised explosive device found and they're checking on that. But again, as you heard at the end of that press conference they didn't take any questions, so there was not an opportunity to clarify more about that.

Let's go to our reporters and analysts who we have with us. I believe we still have Andrew McCabe and Jean Casarez.

Andrew, we were talking about what this may or may not have been earlier in the morning. The local officials there clearly saying that this was an intentional act.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FBI: Yeah, Danny, that's right. I was -- it was I thought a bit surprising to see the police chief come out that strongly.

[07:45:00] She was unequivocal that this was an intentional act. She mentioned that the perpetrator drove around their barricades in order to get to the crowd that he was apparently seeking -- you know, trying to run over. So it's interesting.

And then you had the representative from the FBI -- the assistant special agent in charge -- say that they did not believe it was a terrorist attack or maybe they weren't ready to conclude that at this point.

And it's -- I think it's important to note that there are distinctions there. You could have an intentional act that is criminal in nature by someone who is trying to hurt someone else or a group of other people that is not connected to some sort of a terrorist organization or motivated by terrorism.

So there's all sorts of kind of a gray area right now despite the amount of information we got out of that very brief press conference. There's still a lot of questions to be answered.

And the biggest for me right now, Danny, is do they have this individual in custody because if I'm correct neither the police chief nor the FBI representative was clear about that. If he crashed the vehicle and then fired shots at police officers, you would think that he's in custody. But, of course, we don't know that yet. We certainly can't confirm that.

But no question there. They're taking -- they're handling this with everything they've got, and I think putting the FBI in the lead investigative lead is probably the right call there. They certainly have the assets and the resources necessary to sort through a massive crime scene like this.

FREEMAN: Yeah. And Andrew, I agree. That was one of the bigger questions that I had at the end of that press conference. Again, we -- I agree with you. I did not hear from any of the officials there what the status is of the suspect here.

Jean, one of the other fascinating things that the police chief said is that they had, as we reported, more than 300 officers in that area around the French Quarter on New Year's Eve.

Just tell me what was your takeaway from what we just heard.

CASAREZ: I think all of the resources they had they brought into the area, especially when this happened. I guess we can -- we do know now that it was an intentional scene, so this is a massive crime scene that they are processing right now as we speak.

Twenty-six were injured is what we heard through that press conference.

But what I can see is that talking about this being a working crime scene when they mentioned the improvised explosive devices there appeared to be a question. They were not sure if, in fact, that's what they had that they would be looking at now, but they wanted everyone and anyone to stay away from the Bourbon Street area. So it appears as though that's their next order of business right here to see exactly what is going on with the possibility of those devices.

FREEMAN: Andrew, you noted when you were just speaking a moment ago, but I just want to take another moment to focus on this. The local officials there saying not only, again, "hellbent on creating carnage" -- that was their words -- but also that this man went around barricades.

So we were discussing this earlier that you were almost surprised that a car or a vehicle could get access to Bourbon Street of all places on New Year's Eve. It seems like this particular suspect, according to those local officials, went out of his way to get around any sort of barricades that were up.

What do you make of that?

MCCABE: Well, I mean, it shows you how hard it is to deter a -- you know, a very -- a motivated, driven attacker.

And so if this is someone who, as the chief said, is hellbent on causing carnage, they -- you know, you have to think of these things when you're trying to secure an event in terms of someone like that who is going to go to any lengths and exploit any weakness in your system, which is -- and your -- and your security plan, which is why I would expect that after this event has been kind of -- after we're away from the crime scene and have -- and the police department has a moment to think about this they're going to think about how adequately did they barricade that access point if he was able to drive around it. It certainly raises some questions about whether or not that was adequately done.

Again, that's an -- that's an issue for another day. But you can't ever discount or take lightly what a driven, motivated, trained attacker can do.

Now, we don't know -- again, we don't know anything about the attacker in this situation because we haven't heard those sorts of details yet. But, you know, again, you're putting together a massive security plan like this to secure a large crowd in the middle of a huge event that everyone can see is coming, you've really got to think that you've got to -- you know, you've got to protect that crowd from every possible attack direction and method. And I'm sure they'll go back and reassess how adequately they did that.

[07:50:20]

FREEMAN: All right. Andrew, Jean, hold on for us for just a moment. We're going to take a quick break.

But again, just to recap what we've been learning over the course of this morning, a tragic situation in New Orleans. Ten people killed, more than 30 injured after a car drove through a crowd in the early hours of New Year's Day. Local officials saying this was very intentional behavior.

We'll talk more about it on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREEMAN: And we continue to follow this breaking news out of New Orleans -- this tragic news that 10 people have been killed, dozens others injured after a car drove through a crowd in New Orleans' Bourbon Street. Of course, the popular destination packed with people overnight during the New Year's Eve festivities.

[07:55:00]

The governor of Louisiana tweeting just a little while ago, "A horrific act of violence took place on Bourbon Street earlier this morning. Please join Sharon and I in praying for all the victims and first responders on scene. I urge all near the scene to avoid the area." That's Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.

We've been looking at these images all morning just of a tremendous police response to this mass casualty incident.

I want to go through now to the scene in New Orleans. We have CNN affiliate WDSU's Fletcher Mackel with a report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLETCHER MACKEL, REPORTER, WDSU: No, and we showed you some images. We were on Bourbon Street on the corner of Bourbon and Orleans. And we were moved to Dauphine about a block away because we were by a state police trooper who noticed what he felt like was a suspicious package. So they moved the perimeter back at least a block because they are being vigilant and hypersensitive because of what was just detailed by the police superintendent and law enforcement officials. And they certainly want to prevent any type of second attack as well.

And right now, most of the streets here in the French Quarter are still blocked. There's a lot of people just waking up and finding out what's happening -- coming to work this morning and not being able to get into the French Quarter.

I'm also going to step out of the way right now because this is one of those really eerie, sad situations. You're looking at maybe the most iconic structure in the city of New Orleans, the St. Louis Cathedral. And as photojournalist Stephone Cage zooms out you see police cruisers.

You know, this is supposed to be a festive time ringing in the new year -- a fresh start. Everybody having fun, enjoying the Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame tonight. Getting ready for the biggest event that our city is going to host in a long time, Super Bowl LIX. And instead, we're talking about tragedy and chaos.

And so, again, our beautiful city dealing with chaos once again as law enforcement --

(END VIDEOTAPE) FREEMAN: And we'll have much more on this developing story in just a moment. We're going to take a quick break and then tell you what you need to know about this situation in New Orleans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)