Following the unprovoked and brutal slaughter of 10 New Year’s Eve revelers in New Orleans’ French Quarter early Wednesday, lawmakers from across the political spectrum spoke out against the violence.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, speaking from her offices in Boston, expressed her condolences to the 30 injured people, the 10 left dead, and the families they left behind.
“It’s just a horrific, horrific incident. My heart goes out to the victims and their families. I’m grateful for the swift action of law enforcement,” Healey said.
According to early reporting, the attack occurred around 3 a.m., when a man driving a pickup truck snaked his way around barriers to access Bourbon Street, which had been closed to vehicular traffic and was filled with celebrants.
The driver, who was killed in a shootout with responding police, was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did,” New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said at a morning press conference.
“It was very intentional behavior. This man was trying to run over as many people as he could,” Kirkpatrick said.
President-elect Donald Trump used the occasion to point out he has been warning voters about crime for sometime, and that “the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country.”
“That statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true. The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before. Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil,” Trump said.
According to President Joe Biden, the FBI and local law enforcement are investigating whether the attack as “an act of terrorism.”
“There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities,” the President said.
— Developing
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