‘The scene was just horrific’ – witnesses tell of New Orleans carnage

Jim and Nicole Mowrer, who were visiting New Orleans from Iowa, told the BBC’s US news partner CBS that they were in the French Quarter when they heard crashing noises down the street.

They said they saw a white truck slam through a barricade “at a high rate of speed”, then heard gunshots after the crashing noises.

“We stayed in the alcove until the gunfire stopped, came out into the street, and came across a lot of – several people who had been hit, [we] wanted to see what we could do to help,” Nicole said.

They tried to help people they found wounded, but realised the victims had died. They said the truck hit people only about a block away from where they were walking.

The couple said the victims they saw had injuries from the truck impact, and they did not see any apparent gunshot wounds. They said they left the area once emergency responders started arriving.

An unnamed man was working in a nearby hotel when he heard “loud banging sounds” a little bit before 03:20 local time.

“We were in our room just pretty much closing down for the evening at the end of all the events and everything and when we looked out the window we noticed there was a lot of bodies lying on the ground,” he told CBS News.

“The truck was speeding away. I immediately ran downstairs to see if there were some people I can help out and unfortunately some people did perish during that event.”

He said they put other people into the hotel for assistance.

“The scene was just horrific,” he said.

Initial reports seem to indicate that a majority of the victims were locals, police said.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said in a post on X that he was “praying for all the victims and first responders on scene”.

“A horrific act of violence took place on Bourbon Street earlier this morning,” Landry wrote.