“Our hearts go out to the New Orleans community”: Prestigious College Band issues PSA amid horrifying incident

The No. 2-ranked Georgia Bulldogs are in New Orleans on Wednesday (January 1) to compete in the Sugar Bowl in a second-round college football playoff matchup against the No. 5-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. While the Sugar Bowl should have been the biggest talking point coming out of the city this week, a tragedy took place in the early hours of New Year's Day.

Early in the morning on New Year's Day, the driver of a pickup truck struck a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. At least 10 people are confirmed dead, and more than 30 were injured in the incident.

The Georgia Bulldogs redcoat band came to New Orleans along with the team for the Sugar Bowl. With so many people from the University of Georgia in New Orleans, the UGA Redcoat Band X account released a statement after the horrifying incident.

"In the wake of last night's event, we are grateful to share that all our students and staff are safe. Our hearts go out to the New Orleans community and everyone affected by this tragedy."

The release of the statement was a relief for everyone from the University of Georgia to see. They got to wake up on Wednesday morning knowing that none of their loved ones were impacted by this event.

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This tragedy in New Orleans is being treated as a terrorist act by the police department

In the early stages of the investigation, the city's mayor spoke to the media and described the killing as a "terrorist attack." The city's police superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said the act was clearly intentional.

She said the driver was driving "at a very fast pace," and was "trying to run over as many people as he possibly could. It was not a DUI situation."

Whit Davis, a 22-year-old man, told reporters he was leaving a nightclub at the time of the attack. He said:

"Everyone started yelling and screaming and running to the back, and then we basically went into lockdown for a little bit and then it calmed down, but they wouldn't let us leave."

"When they finally let us out of the club, police waved us where to walk and were telling us to get out of the area fast. I saw a few dead bodies they couldn't even cover up and tons of people receiving first aid."

The incident occurred on the morning before the Sugar Bowl.