Ten people have been killed and 30 others injured after a vehicle drove into a large crowd in New Orleans, city emergency officials have said.
Nola Ready, the emergency preparedness department, said in a statement that the incident happened at around 03:00 local time (08:00 GMT) on the city’s Bourbon Street in the French Quarter.
A New Orleans Police spokesman told CBS, the BBC’s news partner in the US, that “initial reports show a car may have ploughed into a group of people”.
A CBS reporter saw multiple people on the ground with injuries an the intersection of Bourbon and Canal streets.
The BBC has verified video from the scene that shows a person lying on the ground as others gather round, before what appears to be gunshots are heard, causing the crowd to scatter.
Another graphic video shows two injured people lying in a street.
Witnesses told CBS that a vehicle ran into a crowd, and then the driver began firing a weapon, prompting police to return fire.
Police have not confirmed this report.
Nola Ready had earlier said on social media that there had been “a mass casualty incident on Canal and Bourbon Street” and told those nearby to “get yourself away from the area”.
