A terrorist drove a truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, leaving a “twisted” and “severely deformed” body “left next to a dumpster,” New Year's celebrants have given harrowing accounts.
Jimmy Cothran tries to hide in a nightclub as the massacre unfolds. told NBC News Immediately after, he counted eight bodies on the street.
“In front of our eyes, someone's perverse and clearly deceased mother was dead,” he said.
“One man (who died) had tire marks on his back and when someone flipped him over, he had tire marks on his stomach and was obviously crushed.”
“The little girl I saw dancing as I was walking down the street was as flat as a pillow,” he continued.
“It just kept going. Every eye shot – body, body, body, body. It was incredible.”
Live updates: Everything you need to know about the New Orleans 'terrorist attack'
Another witness, who identified himself only as Paul S., said: ABC He said he heard gunshots coming from his hotel room.
“I heard a 'pop, pop, pop, pop' sound, followed by a sound like a burst of fireworks, and then I realized it was a crash,” he told the outlet. .
Paul S. stepped out onto his hotel balcony and saw Bourbon Street “completely deserted except for bodies lying on the ground.”
“There was garbage strewn on the sidewalk, bodies were lying next to garbage cans, and people were rushing to get help,” he said.
Mr. Parsons, 18 years old; told CNN He was partying with friends on Bourbon Street when he heard “tires screeching” and then saw a truck “just coming down the street at a high rate of speed.”
“In a real-life horror movie, everything the car hits is thrown off. It's thrown into the air and right under the car,” he said.
His group crouched for cover in the space between two bars. When he came out of his hiding place, he saw one of his friends, a woman, lying on the road, seriously injured but alive.
Further down, he added, “bodies were strewn all over the street.”
Parsons said he didn't know where paramedics took his injured friend, nor did he know her condition.
Police said the suspected attacker drove a truck through the intersection at the south end of Bourbon Street. Bourbon Street is a busy street filled with nightclubs and strip clubs that draw thousands of people to party on holiday and weekend nights.
Normally, a steel fence would have been installed at the intersection to prevent accidents and violence, but it had been removed several weeks ago. According to NOLA.com.
The city was making changes to its players ahead of the next Super Bowl in New Orleans.
But Bob Sims, who previously oversaw security projects for the French Quarter Administrative District, said even those barriers might not have stopped the truck from driving into the crowd.
“[The old barriers] It was very ineffective. The truck was always full of trash. Beads and doubloons and God knows what else. It’s not the best idea,” Sims told NOLA.com.
