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>> this is cnn, the world's news network. this is cnn breaking news. >> well, good morning to you. >> you are live in the cnn newsroom. >> i'm pamela brown in washington, and we want to welcome our viewers here at home and watching around the world. >> we begin with breaking news out of new orleans. >> as a man drove a pickup truck into a crowd of people on the famed bourbon street early this morning. police say at least ten people were killed and at least 35 are injured. and it happened just after 3 a.m. local time. there were revelers out celebrating the new year. >> at that time, it was packed and according to the new orleans police chief, the suspect was just hell bent on causing carnage. >> she says that the driver then shot two police officers, a federal law enforcement officials, a federal law enforcement official, i should say, says that that suspect is dead. and we've been speaking to witnesses. >> one witness described seeing bodies on the street and a lot of people getting first aid.

take a listen to the emergency radio call. >> communications of engine 29 and all units heading towards canal and bourbon. um, we remove the fire from two responding to a mass casualty incident, a vehicle ran through a crowd of people. there's multiple injuries, multiple casualties. they need you at canal de bourbon. >> cnn's ryan young and paula reid are following the story for us. ryan, first to you. what more do we know about this investigation? >> well, we know it's developing at this point. our evan perez was able to confirm that suspect is dead. i've been talking to some local folks on the ground there who have been telling me this is an evolving situation. in fact, right now there is a perimeter set up around that suspect's truck. so they're trying to figure out exactly where he came from. but it was around 315 this morning where police say that this suspect took an f-150 and started trying to intentionally hit people who were out there. we know ten people are dead, more

than 30 injured. and as you can imagine, we do have some new video in to cnn that is very tough to look at. we have blurred some of the images here, but you can see some of the carnage that was left behind. obviously, some of this video is spreading over the internet with bodies laying out there, and you can just feel for the people who were involved in this at some point. that suspect did then start shooting at officers. two officers were shot. we're told they are in stable condition. outside of that, now we start building from the investigative points, just in terms of trying to figure out why the suspect targeted this area. but take a listen to this eyewitness talk about what was going on. >> who came through with a truck and hit about four people and shot about four people. it was about eight. >> so you saw him got out and shoot? >> yeah. no, he was in a car. he didn't get out. he already hit him. >> now we know the sugar bowl was played later on tonight. there's tons of tourists in

town. you have the new year's celebration you put on top of that. this is the french quarter. they did find ieds. so there there have been several clearing signs as they were trying to do the improvised explosives. they put them in the bomb containment center and then tried to blow them up on, on scene there. but at the same time, you've had people who could not return back to their hotels, people questioning what should they do next? they've shutting down several streets around the area as this investigation continues, we know there's a massive presence of officers down there as they start this investigation. but again, it was 315 this morning when this truck went around barricades and started to try to drive over people. so many questions at this point as we continue to talk to law enforcement, there will be another 11:00 news conference. but we should take a listen to the chief who gave us this information a little earlier this morning. take a listen. >> it did involve a man driving a pickup truck down bourbon

street at a very fast pace, and it was very intentional behavior. this man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could. >> superintendent kirkpatrick couldn't even get to the hospital yet to talk to her officers. she was leaving that news conference to go talk to the officers who had been shot after this. right now, we're not sure exactly how this ended with the suspect, so hopefully we'll get those new details and i'll send it back to you. >> all right, ryan, stay with us. paula, to bring you in. what more do we know about the suspect and the vehicle used in this? >> well, so far, we don't know a lot of information. we've been in touch with federal law enforcement sources. >> as ryan noted, our colleague evan perez is told by one law enforcement official that the suspect is dead. and indications are, though, that this suspect acted intentionally. according to this federal law enforcement official. and that is something that local officials actually indicated earlier in their initial press conference, they said that the driver's actions were, quote, very intentional.

now, we know that the fbi and local officials are conducting searches of the vehicle as they seek to learn more about a potential motive here. we just got word, pamela, that the attorney general, merrick garland, has been briefed on the situation, and the fbi is obviously investigating. now as part of that investigation, they are looking at possible explosive devices used at the scene. as they said in the briefing earlier, there were improvised explosive devices that were found, and they're working to confirm if they were viable devices or not. so this is a quickly evolving investigation and requires cooperation between federal authorities and those on the ground to determine exactly why this happened. >> and, paula, i know that you're well versed in this as a as a lawyer and have covered the justice department for a while. i think people found it confusing when you had the mayor come out essentially and say, this is an act of terrorism, and then the fbi come out right, right, right off the bat and say, this is not an act of terrorism. help us understand the discrepancy

there and why that that might be. >> yeah, i think it's a little confusing. holiday conflicting messaging here. but this is not good to come out and give these kind of confusing messages. people need to understand, especially at the federal level, that terrorism actually has a legal definition and it's much more narrow than people realize, because there were some concerns that if you label certain acts terrorism or if you use that too broadly, it could conflict with some constitutional rights and particularly the first amendment. right. again, it's very confusing. it's sort of an esoteric argument. but when people think of terrorism, they think of something like this. but when it comes to the legal definition, this is why you don't see a lot of cases charged as quote, unquote, terrorism. they're charged with using an explosive device. they're charged with other crimes because that's what is on the books. those are the laws on the books. so i think the legal definitions, particularly the differences between what you might see at a local level versus the federal level. that's why there is this confusion over whether or not this was terrorism. i think most people would agree that this was terrorizing. but when

it comes to the technical, legal, legal legalities, that's, i think, why we're getting these conflicting messages about whether this was quote, unquote, terrorism. >> right. and what is the concern ahead of the sugar bowl tonight? >> what is this? look, i'm the last person to report publicly on sports, but i think that this is going to be on the minds of everyone there. that is a massive event. there's always a massive security operation for anything that happens in a large stadium in this country or abroad, be it a concert, be it a sporting event and something like this, there's clearly going to be heightened, heightened concern and likely heightened precautions to try to prevent anything like this from happening again, though it does appear the signals that we're getting from law enforcement, they don't appear to be indicating that this is part of a wider plot. >> all right. thank you so much, paula reid, ryan young, we appreciate it. and let's bring in cnn national security analyst juliette kayyem and retired fbi special agent bobby chacon. bobby, to start with you, we were just talking about this with paula, that the new orleans mayor is calling this a terrorist attack. an fbi agent

told reporters that it wasn't that. there's. so there's obviously this messaging issue here. but bottom line, this is an act that caused terror in new orleans. among these revelers yes. >> and i think what paula highlights is that we don't have a comprehensive domestic terrorism law. >> and that's why the charges at the local level and as a lawyer myself, i've lectured on this. the charges themselves have to be kind of piecemealed together. and a lot of us call for a comprehensive domestic terrorism law, as we have on the international terrorism side, but we just don't have it on the domestic terrorism side. so it's really kind of a like like paula said, an esoteric legal, legal argument. but certainly the sack of the fbi could have been more clear and said, look, we don't know if this is terrorism yet. we are looking into it instead of declaring it not a terrorism event, in contradiction of the police chief who just said it was. so i think they need to get on the same page. the first presser wasn't that great. hopefully the second one coming up in a little while. they'll get on the same page. there is

no problem. legally, as a lawyer, i can tell her that that there's no problem with saying we're looking into whether it's a terrorist event or not, especially in the early hours. everybody would understand that kind of language. um, and i think that the, the legal argument of whether it's going to meet the legal standards of the charges, that's not what people need to hear and not what people need to know about at this point. the public needs to be confident in the fact that the fbi is working with its local partners to get to the bottom of this, to see whether it was a terrorist attack and how it's going to be charged later on is not is of great concern. >> right? i mean, i've sadly covered too many tragedies like this. and it struck me because normally you don't come right out of the gate and label it one terrorist attack or not. juliette, you know, you say we're looking into all possibilities because it's so early, you don't really know. and there were these explosive devices. the suspect shot at police and hit two police officers. ten people are killed. more than 30 in the

hospital. i mean, this is horrific. juliette, how do you see this? >> yeah, i just think the mayor made a mistake. let's just, you know, in some ways, move on. it has to be clarified. i do not think she should have come out. you actually saw the the people behind her sort of flinch. she was speaking as a politician and as someone who governs the city that this was terrorizing. it was terrible. it was terror for those there. but we are now in the investigation and prosecution stage. look, we are you know, evan is reporting that that that the suspect is dead. we don't know what kind of case follows. so so putting that aside and we'll just put that aside. these things should be tighter that it wasn't it's you know, it's early in the morning. it's it's new year's eve. we understand that now focusing on the future. one is intent that is going to matter is going to matter to the families. it's going to matter if he had any accomplices. this looks we don't know what the ied devices are.

is there a federal nexus that can go forward? the second is a big event tonight. the sugar bowl is huge. lots of people will be watching my personal assessment, doing lots of sports security is it goes on. this is a this this. 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. but i that this is the way that big cities have to work. unfortunately you want to provide what might even be security theater at this stage. lots and lots of of law enforcement presence to make the city and people attending understand that they are safe, to stop anyone who might want to copycat at this stage. and then you let the investigation and the morning continue simultaneously. it's just the nature of how these things

happen is that you have both these horrible incidences, and then you have to prepare for the next big event. and this is what we've seen in prior instances as well. >> and bobby, help us better understand why the fbi, fbi is taking over this investigation. >> well, because, i mean, we have the resources and possibly the charges we have. you know, we have, as paula said earlier, we have these different federal charges that can be brought in, things like this. and then, of course, we bring in the resources. we bring in the bomb technicians, the bomb robots, um, you know, and the manpower we can throw manpower a lot of, a lot of manpower downrange really quickly. and we and quite frankly, we we've been in charge of or involved in security at special events. i myself was at several olympic games. i was at the greece olympics for a year consulting with the greek authorities. i was at the salt lake city olympics working in counterterrorism there. and so we have that kind of background in terrorism and counterterrorism at big special

events. and so the fbi comes in to see if there are resources that we can dedicate, and if there's manpower, we can dedicate. and also the the u.s. attorney's office is probably working with the local prosecutors to see what types of charges can be brought. and so everybody should be working together. that's the bottom line. that's what should be put out at these press conferences. we'll sort out who gets charged at what level later. right now it's all about resources downrange. it's all about manpower. what we can do to investigate this as quickly, as thoroughly as we can and make the crowd safer for tonight. those are the two main areas that we should be concentrating on. >> all right, bobby, juliet, thank you so much. we'll see you next hour. and we're continuing to follow this breaking news out of new orleans. at least ten dead, dozens more injured when this truck slammed into a crowd on bourbon street. we're going to have more after the break.

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such a big event there in new orleans, the sugar bowl, always one of the biggest bowl games every single year there in new orleans in the french quarter. >> and this incident happened, you know, just a mile away from the stadium where the game is to be played. but the sugar bowl ceo jeff hundley put out a statement just a few moments ago saying the sugar bowl committee is devastated by the terrible events from earlier this morning. our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. we're in ongoing discussions with authorities on the local, state and federal levels, and we'll communicate further details as they become available. now, the sugar bowl is the night game, pam. it's between notre dame and georgia. it's 8:45 p.m. eastern kickoff. so as you can imagine, you know, there's thousands of notre dame and georgia fans, you know, in the city to celebrate the new year, go to the game. you know, i've been to the sugar bowl many times. i mean, it's just packed with fans as as well as many other people just there to celebrate the new year. so this this incident happening at this time is just, you know, obviously just horrible, horrible for everyone involved.

uh, but, you know, we'll see the game. you know, like i said, it's 8:45 p.m. tonight. and, um, obviously this was supposed to be a big day for football with three playoff games on the schedule, pam. but, you know, definitely being marred by this incident now. >> it certainly overshadowing it. it's just so, so sad. all of it. andy schulz thank you. so we have this massive sporting event tonight. the sugar bowl, as andy just said, is set for 8:45 p.m. eastern. and that's, you know, complicated by the fact that there is this mass casualty event, ten dead, more than 30 injured in what police are saying is an intentional act meant to create carnage and damage to lives. cnn's tom foreman joins us now. tom, you have a long history with new orleans. you know this city so well. you live there. help us understand the impact of this and how the city is going to handle this. you know, investigating and this mass casualty and also making sure the sugar bowl is safe. >> well, this really is hitting the heart of new orleans in so many ways. the french quarter,

for one thing. also the business of hospitality. that's what new orleans is all about. andy just mentioned a moment ago, the superdome, i believe, for for seating for indoor football is somewhere around 75,000 people. but that's not the only crowd there. in my experience with sugar bowls and super bowls, super bowl will also be there this year fairly soon and mardi gras coming up very soon. and jazz fest after that. this town handles massive, massive crowds, much bigger than most people are aware of. for a town this size, mardi gras doubles the size of the metro area. basically, that's how many people come in. a million people or so. police are very used to handling big crowds. they have made big efforts over the years. pam, to prevent precisely the sort of event. there was a drunk driver back in 2017, i think, that ran into one of the parade crowds and injured a bunch of people. didn't kill anybody. but back then we really saw a step up at

mardi gras of putting many more barricades and big dump trucks and things in the way to stop a car from driving in. that's why it's very interesting that the mayor said, and the officials were saying that, that there was a concerted effort by this driver, according to them, to get around the barricade or any blockage there to head down the street. really. and bear in mind, this is a 300 year old street. bourbon street is, for many people, synonymous with new orleans. they're like, this is what you go to new orleans for. if you're a local there, you know how important it is to the identity of the street cutting through the the famed and beautiful french quarter. and i was noting earlier, it's important to remember the french quarter isn't just a tourist attraction. this isn't a resort somewhere. this is a neighborhood. there are many people who live here. so this isn't just about some monetary impact or some tourist attraction impact. the family and friends who live in this area. so that's when you ask about the impact of it.

this is the heart and soul of new orleans that has been hit this day. >> it certainly is. and you can imagine any one of us would want to spend our new year's eve on bourbon street in new orleans, right? i mean, that's the epicenter of the city's nightlife. what is it typically like over new year's? how crowded is it? >> oh my goodness, bourbon street, actually, for those of us who have lived there, bourbon street is something that we, we we it's not that you avoid it on the on the big events, but you're careful about it because it can be as packed as a rock concert from one end to the other. i've been on bourbon street during mardi gras, where you can just barely move. you are boxed in on all sides, but i will point out, the police have always had a big presence in that and do a truly masterful job of handling giant crowds. my almost certainty is the reason the police were there to respond when this started happening is because the police were there already. they're always there trying to deal with the big crowds. and i

must say, i was looking at this. this is this is a pickup truck. this is going to be a 4000 to 5000 pound vehicle that turned, you know, onto the street from where i'm going to guess from canal street, because it was on that end. and canal street tends to be open because it has to be. it's a main artery for downtown. bourbon street tends to be closed specifically to event to avoid this sort of thing. but but this is a yeah tons and tons of people there. they had a parade yesterday for the sugar bowl and there will be watch parties and people gathering in bars and hotels all over town, typically on sugar bowl night. it is a very, very big event that the town very much enjoys. and again, is just a, a, a predecessor to what's going to happen when mardi gras comes up even bigger. jazz fest comes up even bigger. those are big events and super bowl coming up even bigger. these are huge events. so not only is it this moment

in this time, but the town has to be looking and saying, okay, now what do we do? you can't help but be uneasy about what lies ahead when something like this happens, even if it proves to be simply this one event, one attacker in this case, it's still affects your sense of safety, i think. think about how new york has reacted when times square has been attacked by someone. there's no reason to necessarily think it's going to happen again next month, but you worry about it. and that's true of every town out there. >> yeah. and you mentioned that 2017 attack where that drunk driver. so a different situation. the drunk driver plowed into the mardi gras crowd in new orleans. and given all that happened after that, with the security measures taken, you know, are you surprised this could happen? or is this just a situation when you have someone with a pickup truck and an intent to cause carnage there? you know, there's not i'm i'm not surprised it can happen, pam, because we've seen this sort of thing as the authorities have already noted,

when you have someone very determined to do something like this and clearly, clearly heedless of what happens to their own life in it, it's hard to stop them. >> i mean, unless you were to put up like such, such extraordinary barricades that they simply could not be breached. but then people find other ways to do such a thing. it's hard to ultimately stop something like this. the fact that this seems to have happened in what looks like about a block or so, i'm not sure. we don't know yet exactly how far in this goes. the actual attack, but but that in itself, you know, you have to wonder, did this truck encounter one of the next layers of barricades as you go down bourbon street? because there are many of them. it's not just one outer perimeter and that's it. so. so you have to wonder if part of the system did work to keep this truck from going, because i'll tell you, pam, if this truck had been able to just keep going all the way down bourbon

street, blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks absolutely filled with people. yeah. at 315 in the morning, because it's new orleans. it's a town that is alive and awake and going all the time. so the fact that it stopped where it did perhaps saved many, many, many more lives, as terrible as this is, i think that's a really important point, tom, thank you for coming on and sharing your experience there in the city. >> we're continuing to follow this breaking news out of new orleans. at least ten dead, dozens more injured when a truck slammed into a crowd on bourbon street. we're going to have more after the break. >> i lay on my back, frozen, thinking the darkest thoughts, and then everything changed, dana said. you're still you and i love you, super man. >> the christopher reeve story coming in february, still congested? >> nope. >> uh oh. new mucinex 2 in 1 saline nasal spray spray. goodbye, new mucinex 2 in 1

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in sports history. >> i don't want to be remembered as just a basketball player. >> kobe premieres january 25th on cnn. >> and we continue to follow the breaking news out of new orleans. a federal law enforcement official tells cnn that the suspect in the deadly overnight attack in the french quarter is dead. the fbi is investigating possible explosive devices at the scene where police say at least ten people were killed and dozens injured when a man and a pickup truck intentionally slammed into a crowd on bourbon street. it happened just after 3 a.m. local time, when so many people were out. they were celebrating the new year. just imagine that the street was packed with revelers, and then the suspect comes in with his pickup truck. as one official said, he was hell bent on creating carnage. there was a local news reporter who was on the scene, and that reporter became emotional as she reported on the horrific attack. >> i'm heartbroken. i really am heartbroken. what we're seeing right now, because we are still

seeing red light tarps covering things that are down. bourbon. that's why the police officers are back now in front of us. i'm it's just it's just awful. a lot of people are just waking up to this. some people have been out of their hotels this entire time because they could not even get back to their hotels, because everything has been roped off. so we have a lot of people that are just standing by, just trying to figure out what's going on. some people are like asking, you know, do you know any of the victims so we're learning now breaking news that the fbi is investigating the new orleans incident as an act of terrorism. >> cnn's paula reid joins us now. this is a quick turnaround because the fbi initially said it wasn't. and now they're investigating it as terrorism. >> yeah, it appears that they're trying to clean up the conflicting messages that we got during briefings earlier today when we were getting mixed messages about whether they considered this a potential act of terrorism. now, in a statement just released by the fbi, they said, quote, this morning, an individual drove a car into a crowd of people on bourbon

street in new orleans, killing a number of people and injuring dozens of others. the subject then engaged with local law enforcement and is now deceased. the fbi is the lead investigative agency, and we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism. now, as we talked about earlier, pamela, some of the confusion around the term terrorism, i think it's something that people know it when they see it. but there is a legal definition. and at the federal level, we don't really have a domestic terrorism law that can be cleanly charged. that's why sometimes they're a little bit careful around using this word. but here the fbi coming out with a clear statement, making it crystal clear that they are investigating this as an act of terrorism. now, since the suspect is deceased, they don't have to deal right now with the issue of filing federal charges. but there are indications the suspect acted intentionally, according to at least one federal law enforcement official. fbi and police are conducting searches of the vehicle as they seek to determine a motive. now, the attorney general, merrick garland, has been briefed on this, but i think the big question now, pamela, is

whether this person acted alone or whether there's anything else here as they continue to investigate this as an act of terrorism. >> right. it certainly raises more questions on that front. paula, thank you so much. let's bring in louisiana senator bill cassidy. now, senator, thank you for being here with us this morning. we should note that you're in baton rouge, nearby to where this awful tragedy happened. i first want to get your reaction to what cnn is learning that the fbi is investigating this as an act of terrorism. >> yeah, that's obviously significant. it clearly was an act of terrorism, whether it was official or not. but the fact that the fbi has designated suggest that there might have been somebody who has come from abroad or internally with the specific with the specific goal to wound as many as people before as possible, before a high profile event like the sugar bowl. um, in an effort to send a message. the question is, what is that message? but now that it's being designated an act of terrorism. and by the way,

they have the license plates, they know who these people were. that in and of itself is significant. when the fbi is saying it's possibly an act of right. >> i believe at last check, there was one suspect. that suspect is dead, according to police. but of course, it is very early in this investigation, and police are still trying to figure out if there are others tied to this accomplices. i mean, that that would be, you know, obviously, part of this. and i'm wondering, given what you just said, are you in touch with authorities? do you have any more information about the suspect and what happened here? >> i've had a briefing from the state police, actually, the secretary of homeland security, ali mayorkas, had called me just when i was logging on for this call. my staff was, requested an fbi briefing for the federal delegation. and so and and i've been in contact with mayor cantrell so very much trying to stay in touch. i know that the federal response is going to be immense and vigorous and prompt, but but i

just texted mayor cantrell if there's anything she thought she needed. of course we would work to bring it to bear, but i'm positive that the federal response will be tremendous. >> is there any information, new information you can provide us through those calls and briefings that you've received? >> unfortunately, no. there are some things that i've learned that are not in the public sphere, but it is a criminal investigation. and i think it's best right now to let the law enforcement agencies release this information, as opposed to somebody speaking just on the on the on the zoom call. >> so you had said that, you know, look, this is really concerning to you because it's now being investigated as an act of terrorism. it was done ahead of the sugar bowl tonight. how confident are you about the safety around the sugar bowl tonight? there in the city. >> extremely confident, extremely confident. the standard operating procedure

for a big game like the sugar bowl. for a saints game for the super bowl is to go through the building. um, make sure there's nothing there that's wrong. and then to lock it down. uh, the sugar bowl, the superdome has been locked down. there is going to be no problem there. and you can look at the response on the video on the earth cam. my gosh, the new orleans police department and probably some state police officers running to the sounds of the gunshot. you just have to be so proud of them. and then canal street just filled up with law enforcement. it's going to be like that from now until, well, for for a long time now. >> two quick questions for you. one is just i want to go back to the early on in our conversation. you had you know, you had used plural. do you have information indicating that there was more than one suspect at play here? >> rather not. i'd rather not reply to that. >> okay. you are a retired surgeon. i want to note for our audience, we have at least 30

people across five hospitals right now dealing with injuries. help us understand what their condition may be like and what this must be like at the hospitals. this this horrible triage situation. >> the correct that i'm a gastroenterologist. my wife is a general surgeon who trained a lot. >> sorry about that. >> but there's no problem. there's a standard operating protocol. there's a level one trauma center, um, affiliated with lsu med school and tulane medical school, and they would be on alert. there would be other hospitals that in the in the surrounding area who similarly would be activated. and when this occurs in a mass casualty event, they're trained to look at those people who, frankly, can't survive, who are already dead, those who are critical, they would go to the level one, and those who are less critical, they would go to a not a level one trauma center, the one that could provide adequate care for their condition. new orleans is prepared for this. we have lots of events and mardi gras, super bowls, super bowls coming up,

final fours, you name it. taylor swift concerts. and so there is a standard protocol that works, that works. and so i am very confident that the medical, the medical crews across the city were prepared and that the people are receiving all the care they need. >> before we let you go, senator cassidy, i just want to ask. i know i've interviewed you before and you know, you've you've dealt with loss in your own life that we've talked about. what do you want to say to the families who are grieving right now, who have lost their loved ones in this horrible mass casualty? and what do you want to say to the people of your state and to the rest of the nation? what do you want them to know? >> yeah. so now is the time for us to be strong. the terrorists win if we allow them to strike terror in our heart. they lose when we continue with our lives. and let it be known if there was terrorism, we shall track them down, and we shall track them down and bring them to justice. that won't help those who are grieving, but our

support for those who are grieving is what we can offer them. >> senator bill cassidy, thank you for your time, and please keep in touch with us and happy new year. i know this is not the way you want to start off the new year. >> happy new year. >> thank you. we're continuing to follow breaking news out of new orleans. at least ten dead, dozens more injured when a truck slammed into a crowd on bourbon street. we're going to have more after the break. >> can't fool myself. it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life had extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> luther. never too much. tonight at eight on cnn, sophia is helping me get my money right to achieve my ambitions. >> like earning more money on my money as a head chef, ready for service. bank with sophie to earn a higher apy and an epic welcome bonus. >> okay, everyone, our mission is to provide

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this is cnn. >> well, the first day of the new year begins with a deadly incident in new orleans that the fbi is investigating as an act of terrorism. at least ten people are dead and dozens more injured after a truck drove into a crowd on bourbon street. i want to bring in cnn's senior law enforcement analyst and former philadelphia police commissioner charles ramsey, and cnn's senior law enforcement analyst and former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe. first to you, andy, the significance of the fbi changing its tune, first, coming out and saying this is not terrorism, and now releasing a statement saying we are investigating this as an act of terrorism. >> yeah, certainly a little a little bit confusing here in terms of the public messaging piece, i can't really explain why that first statement was made at the first press conference, that it was not an act of terrorism, really. typically, in the

early stages of investigating an attack like this or an incident like this, you really try to not characterize it as one thing or another. you're trying to leave all possibilities open. >> what does it mean now that they're calling it that? they're now saying we're investigating it as this? >> i mean, at this point, pam, it's an undeniable reality. you have someone who intentionally drove into a crowd, exited the vehicle and attacked law enforcement with a firearm, and the possible involvement of an incendiary device, an ied. so there's no way that's anything other than some sort of act of terrorism. now, they may not know exactly what flavor at the moment. right. they may not know the political purpose that this attacker had in conducting the attack, but it was very clearly an intentional act. it's a violent felony committed in the united states, likely for the purpose of of intimidating or coercing a population or changing the action of

government. that is the definition of terrorism. it's captured in the federal code. and so we from just the first look, we know we have many of those boxes already checked. so it's really just the fbi publicly stating what has been true from the very beginning. i'm sure they began investigating this, thinking that it was very likely an act of terrorism. >> chief ramsey, how are you seeing this? >> well, first of all, i agree with andy. i think it was just a question of being cautious in terms of using that term at this particular point in time. as an investigation progresses, they get more and more information. according to the information we have now, the offender is dead. so they've had a chance to maybe go through the truck, maybe find some more information on social media, what have you. more and more of a picture starting to come together where they feel comfortable now actually calling it for for what it really is. >> but the most important thing to me is the fact that, you know, this is just a very i

mean, it's a heinous crime. i mean, to do something like this, really, the mindset of an individual, whether or not this is something that a copycat from what happened overseas a couple of weeks ago or not. i mean, all this is information that will start to come together as more and more facts become known. but again, my condolences to the victims families in this particular incident. i mean, this is just a tragedy, one more tragedy that we have to deal with. no way to start off a new year, that's for sure. >> and of course, we have the sugar bowl tonight there. and you have to wonder how the city is going to handle this mass casualty that it's investigating. plus, you know, making sure the sugar bowl is safe. i want to ask you, andy, about my interview i just had with senator cassidy of louisiana. he had been briefed by the dhs secretary and state police and other officials. um, and it was interesting because he started off the conversation with his answer, talking about

multiple people. and as far as we know, cnn's reporting, as far as we know, there's one suspect, right. but, of course, this is early in the investigation. and when i followed up and asked him if there are others, if he knows of others, he said, i would rather not say. and of course, that my antenna went up with that. what did you make of that? >> yeah, i think it's certainly possible. the senator was trying to be careful there. um, and, and that, that, you know, that leads us to make assumptions. um, i think the important thing is to know that law enforcement officials and now the fbi is the leading law enforcement entity here, is addressing that directly. that's what that's the that's the immediate mystery you have to solve in the aftermath of anything like this. are we dealing with one person or is there a continuing threat? are there others are there, and those others can come in many different forms. it can be people who supported that person with money or training or gave him the

vehicle to use that sort of thing. or it could be other people who are in an operational posture, people who are prepared to stage follow on attacks, attacks somewhere else in the city, attack somewhere else in the country. so that's the most important thing for our intelligence and law enforcement folks to figure out. it certainly seems from the careful way that the senator, uh, answered your question, he may have gotten some information along those lines. we'll have to we'll have to wait and see what they tell us at the next press conference. um, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they are already starting to identify people who crossed paths with this attacker, maybe intentionally providing support or otherwise, or just people who came into contact with them, like you can imagine, like if if the car was a rented car, you would want to talk to the person who rented it to him. did that person know why the why this guy was renting the car? all sorts of questions like that. >> all right. charles ramsey, andrew mccabe. thank you. we'll talk to you again very soon. more of our breaking news out

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rocket money will also reach out and try to get you a refund for the money you lost. >> actually. >> yeah. >> download rocket money today. >> luther never too much. tonight at eight on cnn. >> back to our breaking news out of new orleans. at least ten people are dead and 30 hurt after a driver rammed a pickup truck into a crowd on bourbon street. police say it was an intentional act with the driver trying to inflict as much damage as possible. a federal law enforcement official tells cnn the suspect is dead, and now the fbi is investigating this as a potential act of terrorism. let's bring in cnn, senior white house correspondent kayla tausche.

this is not the way we wanted to start off the new year here. kayla, what is the biden administration saying about this? >> pam, president biden is here in wilmington, delaware, after a family event last night. he's been spending the morning speaking to local officials and being briefed by his own government agencies. we're told that he called new orleans mayor latoya cantrell, offering her full federal support as the city deals with this situation and recovers and investigates. and to that end, president biden has been briefed by senior leadership at the department of homeland security, the federal bureau of investigation, as well as his own white house homeland security team. he will continue to be briefed throughout the day. we expect to see him for the first time this morning in just about an hour's time. he is scheduled to depart wilmington to travel to camp david for the weekend. we are awaiting any word of potential changes to his schedule, but as of now, that's what we expect. pam. and it still remains to be seen whether he will choose to deliver remarks on this incident. pam. >> all right. kayla tausche, thanks so much. and coming up

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