Sugar Bowl to Be Played Thursday Following Mass Killing in New Orleans

Investigators are searching for potential explosive devices in New Orleans' French Quarter after driver killed 10, official tells AP.

A driver rammed a vehicle into a crowd of New Orleans revelers early on New Year’s Day, killing 10 people and injuring 35 others in what the FBI is investigating as an act of terrorism.

The driver was killed in a firefight with police following the attack around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday along Bourbon Street in the city’s bustling French Quarter, the FBI said.

While New Orleans is known for having one of the more festive New Year's Eve celebrations in the world, many football fans have flocked here to watch the Sugar Bowl, which will now be played Thursday at Mercedes Benz Stadium following a 24 hour postponement announced Wednesday afternoon.  The game features Georgia taking on Notre Dame.

At a news conference, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the killings as a “terrorist attack” and the city’s police chief said the act was clearly intentional.

New Orleans Police Commissioner Anne Kirkpatrick said the driver was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.”

“It was very intentional behavior. This man was trying to run over as many people as he could,” Kirkpatrick said.

After the vehicle stopped, the driver emerged and opened fire on responding officers, police said. Officers returned fire, killing the driver, police said. Two officers were wounded and are in stable condition, police said.

Before New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick announced the Sugar Bowl game will be played as scheduled, multiple people assured the public security at the stadium should not be a concern.

“The Sugar Bowl is huge. Lots of people will be watching,” Juliette Kayyem, a former top U.S. Department of Homeland Security official, told CNN.  “It should go on. The police department has lots of resources to draw on. It can protect the investigation and also draw on other local and state resources to protect people going to the bowl.”