The co-owners of Cincinnati-based Game Day Communications were staying in a hotel just two blocks away from the Bourbon Street truck attack when they were woken up by the blare of sirens on Wednesday morning.
But New Orleans in the wee hours after midnight? They didn’t think anything of it, chalking it up to revelers headed home.
However, Betsy Ross, a long-time national and Cincinnati sports reporter, sleeps with the television on and quickly saw that it was more.
Ross and Game Day co-owner Jackie Reau are in New Orleans as part of a Notre Dame alumni contingent for the Sugar Bowl, scheduled for tonight. Ross teaches a sports marketing class at Notre Dame.
The Cincinnati Enquirer is part of The USA Today Network, which is reporting a pick-up truck crashed into a crowd at high speed around 3:15 a.m. today. Within moments, the driver started firing on police officers from inside the vehicle. Two officers were shot and are now being treated in stable condition, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said at an early morning news conference.
More:10 killed and 30+ injured as truck crashes into New Orleans NYE crowd: Live updates
“We are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism,” the FBI said in a late-morning statement, according to the network reporting.
“About 3:30 a.m., 4 a.m. we heard all these sirens going off,” said Ross, who is staying on Canal Street, two blocks from the attack. “I’m thinking Bourbon Street at midnight, they’re just trying to get people home.”
Some hotels were evacuated, but not hers. When it got light out around 6 a.m., Ross walked over to the scene for an up-close look.
She told The Enquirer what she saw:
“You could see the police − New Orleans officers, state police, the FBI, they were already down here,” Ross said. “Everything is sealed off. See the police going through every trash can, parked cars. They’re looking at everything, taking pictures of license plates. It’s pretty sobering.
“It’s just carnage,” Ross added. “It’s the only way to describe it.”
As for still going to the game, she and Reau are in wait-and-see mode. Will it be safe?
More:Sugar Bowl live updates: Somber day in New Orleans after Bourbon Street attack
Ross noted the Super Bowl is set to happen in New Orleans and there is lots of construction happening which she saw earlier in the week.
She’s thinking about all the Cincinnati people in New Orleans for the game like she is.
“Notre Dame, it goes back to Gerry Faust days, there’s a pipeline, a connection,” Ross said. “I have run into so many people from Cincinnati after the last few days.”
*Ross is president and co-founder of Game Day Communications, a large public relations firm that handles accounts beyond its sports roots, teaches college journalism and hosts a FOX19 sports program on Saturday mornings.
