A city councilor from Lynn, Massachusetts, was visiting Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year's Eve, before the deadly attack that left at least 15 people killed and many more hurt.
Lynn City Councilor Fred Hogan traveled to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl, supporting a football player from Lynn on the University of Georgia team.
Hogan was seeing firsthand on Wednesday New Orleans in mourning and on high alert following the deadly vehicle attack on Bourbon Street early New Year's Day.
"They had all the roads blocked off with cones, so the area was very safe, but how the guy got down there I didn’t understand," Hogan said.
On Wednesday afternoon, law enforcement officials said malfunctioning bollards are in the process of being replaced in the area, ahead of the city hosting Super Bowl.
Retired FBI special agent and University of New Haven lecturer Kenneth Gray said the combinations of weapons used complicates prevention efforts.
"The driver in this case shifted from, once he crashed the vehicle to a firearm, and was killed in a shootout with police and that showed the motivation to continue the attack," Gray said.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said that months of planning go into ensuring safe public events, implementing lessons learned from incidents around the world.
"It’s just unthinkable that on a day of celebration something so devastating would happen, so we send all of our condolences and our hearts out to those impacted by that situation and all of the victims and their families and the entire city of New Orleans," Wu said.
Officials announced that the Sugar Bowl is being postponed to Thursday in the interest of public safety.
