WASHINGTON: The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) does not consider the car ramming incident in New Orleans as a terrorist attack, reported Sputnik/RIA Novosti, quoting FBI special agent Alethea Duncan on Wednesday.
CBS News reported earlier in the day that a driver on a truck rammed into crowd of people in New Orleans and opened fire.
According to eyewitnesses cited in the report, the truck at high speed crashed into the crowd on Bourbon Street, after which the driver came out of the car and started shooting, with police reportedly returning fire.
At least 10 people were killed and 30 injured, while the driver was shot dead by the police, ABC News reported, citing police and city officials.
“We’ll be taking over the investigative lead for this event. This is not a terrorist event. What it is right now is there is improvised explosive devices that was found and we are working on confirming if this is a viable device or not,” Duncan said at a press conference.
New Orleans Police Department superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said that the driver acted intentionally, ruling out him driving under influence.
“This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could. It was not a DUI situation. This is a 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,” Kirkpatrick said.
She confirmed that 10 people were killed.
“What I also can tell you is that this man, the perpetrator, he fired on our officers, from his vehicle when he crashed his vehicle. Two of our officers have been shot. They are stable,” the officer added. – BERNAMA-SPUTNIK
