New year revellers tell of shock and confusion

The silence on Bourbon Street told much of the story. At the intersection that marks the centre of New Orleans's noisy tourist hub, lined with tall palm trees and towering hotels, the quiet on the morning of New Year's Day was broken only by yellow police tape fluttering in the light breeze and the occasional blare of sirens echoing on the road.

- Oliver Laughland

Just a few hours earlier the road had been lined with hundreds of revellers from across the country, young and old, celebrating the new year when, at about 3am, the crowd was targeted in a suspected act of terrorism. A vehicle had ploughed into the throngs and a gunman exchanged fire with police, leaving at least 10 people dead and dozens injured.

Bleary-eyed witnesses told the Guardian they had heard gunshots and screams of terror, and seen bodies on the ground.

As the sun rose on New Year's Day, 28-year-old Casey Kirsch stood at the crime scene perimeter hoping to retrieve his father-in-law's wheelchair, which had been left behind in the chaotic aftermath. Kirsch had come to New Orleans from Pittsburgh to celebrate the new year with his family, but instead spent the early hours of 2025 frantically trying to ascertain the whereabouts of his father-in-law, Jeremi.

"We couldn't get a hold of him and started calling the hospitals," Kirsch recalled.