A U.S. Army veteran carrying an ISIS flag plows his truck into a crowd enjoying a New Year’s Eve party in New Orleans, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens, the deadliest attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. It was one of the terrorist attacks.
Shamsuddin Jabbar, 42, maneuvered a rented Ford F-150 Lightning EV pickup truck around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday to avoid a police blockade on Bourbon Street and drive along the iconic stretch. It plowed into the party crowd, leaving behind a trail of blood and bodies. his awakening.
Jabbar’s rampage only came to a halt when he collided with a crane blocking a pedestrian street. He jumped out of the car and began firing at police, but the officer returned fire and was killed.
President Biden said investigators are looking into whether the attack was in any way connected to the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump Las Vegas hotel on Wednesday morning. The driver was killed and seven others were injured in the explosion, but an investigation is underway, including whether it was a terrorist attack.
Mr. Biden said the FBI was also investigating whether there were any co-conspirators who worked with Mr. Jabbar.
The riot in New Orleans occurred hours before kickoff at the Sugar Bowl, a College Football Playoff game between Georgia and Notre Dame. Officials postponed the game until Thursday.
The game drew tens of thousands of football fans to the Big Easy in addition to New Year’s festivities, and at least one University of Georgia student was among the 35 people injured in the attack.
“This is not just an act of terrorism, this is evil,” New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said at a news conference.
The police chief previously said Jabbar was “dedicated to causing carnage and damage.”
“This guy was trying to run over as many people as possible.”
Video from the scene showed twisted and severely deformed bodies strewn across the street, and witnesses described an absolute massacre.
“One man who died had tire marks on his back and when someone turned him over, he had a tire mark on his stomach and was obviously crushed,” he said as the carnage unfolded. Jimmy Cothran, who was hiding in the nightclub, told NBC News.
Live updates: Everything you need to know about the New Orleans terrorist attack
“The little girl I saw dancing as I was walking down the street was as flat as a pillow,” he continued.
“It just kept going — body, body, body, body. It was unbelievable.”
Inside the truck, officers found a pipe bomb with nails inside a cooler and several improvised explosive devices, each with a remote detonator, hidden throughout the nearby French Quarter.
Investigators said they were investigating whether Jabbar acted alone because surveillance cameras showed other people with Jabbar as he planted the bomb.
“We do not believe Jabbar was solely responsible,” FBI Special Agent Alecia Duncan told reporters Wednesday afternoon.
However, law enforcement officials later said those in the video were cleared of any wrongdoing.
The suspect traveled to Egypt for 10 days in the summer of 2023 and lived in a trailer park in Houston filled with mostly Muslim immigrants.
The mosque, which is within walking distance of his home and attended by most of his neighbors, was sealed off by police on Wednesday.
Questions are already being raised about why security guards allowed Jabbar access to Bourbon Street in the midst of holiday festivities.
Police have confirmed that a system of barriers meant to prevent people from driving on New Orleans’ streets ahead of the 2025 Super Bowl was removed in November, police have confirmed.
Follow the latest updates on the Bourbon Street terrorist attack in New Orleans.
Instead, police cars and officers were deployed to block roads during the New Year’s celebrations, but police said Jabbar drove around them and onto the sidewalk, footage showing him driving around in his truck. The image showed him easily slipping past them and rushing into the crowd.
“We certainly had a plan, but the terrorists defeated it,” Kirkpatrick told reporters. When asked why the sidewalks were not made safe, authorities moved on to other questions.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry vowed that “whatever the problem is, it will be resolved.”
The two police officers injured in the gunfight are expected to recover.
“Considering their injuries, they’re doing well,” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said.
Photos obtained by the newspaper showed a bearded Jabbar, wearing camouflage, lying next to a truck after being shot by police.
Up to 100 military police have also been deployed to support local police.
Mr. Jabbar served in the U.S. Army for 10 years until 2020, including a deployment to Aghanistan. But when he carried out the raid, he was living in a squalid trailer park with sheep and goats in the yard.
He has also gone through two messy and expensive divorces, the second of which ended in bankruptcy in 2022, he said in court filings.
Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-Louisiana) declined to reveal details of the attack that could jeopardize the FBI’s investigation, but vowed that the public would know the full truth if it was safe to do so. Ta.
The Republican lawmaker said, “I was told not to speak today because it was thought that it might jeopardize the investigation.”
“If you don’t believe in objective evil, look at what happened in our city this morning.”
