The suspect remains at large, and the police have classified the incident as a “mass casualty event.” Nola Ready, the department in charge of emergency preparedness in the City of New Orleans, took to X (formerly Twitter) to issue a warning: “There has been a mass casualty incident on Canal and Bourbon Street. Get away from the area immediately.”
Bourbon Street, renowned as a premier nightlife and tourist destination, has been cordoned off as the police conduct a thorough investigation. The timing of the incident couldn’t have been worse, coming just hours before the city’s much-anticipated annual Allstate Sugar Bowl college American football game, which thousands were set to attend to ring in the New Year.