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Officials have postponed Wednesday night’s Sugar Bowl, a major sporting event in New Orleans, after a man plowed his truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in what is being investigated as a terrorist attack.
The sold-out annual college football game will be postponed until Thursday night, Allstate Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Hundley said the decision was in the “best interest” of public safety.
Authorities said at least 15 people were killed and more than 30 others were injured at about 3:15 a.m. when a man intentionally rammed into a crowd on Bourbon Street, a popular destination in the city.
Live updates: Bourbon Street car ramming attack investigated as terrorism
The suspect is dead, the FBI said. It identified him as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a U.S. citizen from Texas.
The Sugar Bowl, played annually since 1935, had been set to begin around 7:45 p.m., local time and would have aired on ESPN. The No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs were scheduled to meet the No. 3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
The game will now be played at 3 p.m. local time Thursday (4 p.m. ET). Officials said there will be additional safety measures.
In an earlier statement, Hundley said the Sugar Bowl Committee was “devastated by the terrible events.”
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” the statement said. “We are in ongoing discussions with authorities on the local, state, and federal levels and will communicate further details as they become available,” he said.
The University of Georgia Athletic Association said all team personnel and members of the official team travel party have been accounted for. “We are deeply saddened by the senseless violence that occurred in New Orleans,” it said in a statement.
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