Multiple deaths after New Year ‘terror attack’ in New Orleans on New Years Eve partying people
At least 10 people are dead and 35 more are injured after a man drove a pick-up truck into New Year’s revellers in the American city New Orleans.
The incident is being treated, by law enforcement, as an act of terrorism.
The driver, who was reportedly killed in a firefight with police officers, has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, an American-born citizen and military veteran who grew up in Texas.
“After hitting the crowd, he exited the vehicle and fired upon local law enforcement. Law enforcement returned fire and the subject was pronounced deceased at the scene,” the FBI said in a statement.
“Two law enforcement officers were injured and transported to a local hospital.”
An ISIS flag was found in the vehicle, a pick-up truck, which law enforcement believes Jabbar rented. According to The Associated Press, police also found guns and pipe bombs inside the pick-up truck, hidden within coolers.
Those explosives had been wired for remote detonation, and a corresponding remote control was also found in the vehicle.
Meanwhile other explosives were found in the city’s French Quarter. Surveillance footage reportedly shows three men, and a woman, placing “one of multiple improvised explosive devices”.
In that vein, law enforcement believes the suspect may not have acted alone.
“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible,” said FBI assistant special agent in charge of the investigation, Alethea Duncan, at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, US time.
“We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates.”
The pick-up truck in question, a Ford electric vehicle, had been rented via the app Turo. Its owner, another 42-year-old man, had listed it for rent and is now speaking to police.
“We are heartbroken to learn that one of our hosts’ vehicles was involved in this awful incident,” Turo’s vice president of communications, Steve Webb, said in a statement.
“We are actively partnering with the FBI. We are not currently aware of anything in this guest’s background that would have identified him as a trust and safety threat to us at the time of the reservation.”
‘It’s not just terrorism, it’s evil’
It’s been reported that security barriers designed to prevent exactly this kind of attack were not in operation at the time, as they were being repaired ahead of the Super Bowl, which New Orleans is hosting next month.
The Louisiana city was already packed, not just because of the festive holidays, but also due to the high profile Sugar Bowl college football match, which is played on January 1 each year. That match has now been postponed for 24 hours.
“Because of the intentional mindset of this perpetrator – he went around our barricades in order to conduct this – he was hellbent on creating carnage,” chief of the New Orleans Police Department Anne Kirkpatrick told reporters.
“This is not just terrorism, this is evil,” she added.
The incident occurred at 3.15am, local time (8.15pm AEDT), on Bourbon Street, in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter, which is usually bustling with tourists.
The narrow street, almost an alley, is lined with historic balcony-fronted buildings, most of which house bars and restaurants.
Scores of people still celebrating after ringing in the New Year were hit on the thoroughfare, near the intersection with Canal Street.
The man drove “down Bourbon Street at a very fast pace,” police chief Kirkpatrick said, “trying to run over as many people as he possibly could”.
The driver then left the vehicle and shot at police, at least two of whom were injured. Police returned fire, killing him.
It’s been reported that the vehicle used was a white coloured Ford F-150 Lightning pick up truck with Texas licence plates. Investigators have been seen surrounding a pick-up truck with a crumpled and warped bonnet.
‘Unimaginable carnage’
The FBI has confirmed it is being treated as a terror incident.
Local police have said that while Bourbon Street was a location popular with tourists, most of the casualties were thought at this stage to be locals.
Eyewitnesses have spoken of the horrific scene that unfolded.
Talking to CNN, Jimmy Cothran said he saw people crushed with tyre marks on their bodies where they had been run over.
“It was unimaginable carnage. The disfigurement, bodies strewn, it’s something I will never forget,” Mr Cothran said.
“I saw someone twisted up, obviously deceased. We counted eight bodies very quickly in our area.”
“Everyone was just completely in shock,” another witness, Whit Davis, told the BBC.
“I visit New Orleans frequently and have never seen anything close to this bad.”
Video of suspect surfaces
A resurfaced video on YouTube shows Jabbar describing his background.
“I just want to say a bit a about me,” he begins in the footage.
“I was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas and now live in Houston. I’ve been here for all my life with the exception of the travelling with the military, where I spent 10 years as a human resources specialist.”
Jabbar claimed that in 2022, as he went through his second divorce, he could not afford his house payments.
“It is past due in excess of $US27,000 and in danger of foreclosure if we delay settling the divorce,” he wrote in emails, according to The New York Times.
Security barriers were not in operation
Despite law enforcement’s claim that the suspect ran over barricades, it’s been revealed that metal barriers, installed due to similar terror attacks abroad as well as drunk drivers accidentally colliding with pedestrians in the French Quarter, were not in operation on Bourbon Street.
Local news website Nola.com reported the barriers were being replaced ahead of next month’s Super Bowl, which is being held in the city.
“They were very ineffective. The track was always full of crap; beads and doubloons and God knows what else. Not the best idea,” Bob Simms, who until recently worked for the French Quarter Management District, told Nola.com.
“Eventually everybody realised the need to replace them. They’re in the process of doing that, but the new ones are not yet operational.”
Instead, plastic barricades, metal temporary fencing and police were blocking streets. Police said the attacker drove around barricades on top of the footpath.
“We had a plan, but the terrorists defeated it,” police chief Kirkpatrick said.
Biden, Trump respond
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said he was “praying for all the victims and first responders on scene”.
“A horrific act of violence took place on Bourbon Street earlier this morning. I urge all near the scene to avoid the area,” Mr Landry said.
US President Joe Biden said he was grateful for the swift action of local police that prevented further death and injury.
He said authorities would “get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible … to ensure that there is no remaining threat of any kind”.
“My heart goes out to the victims and their families, who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday. There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities.”
President-elect Donald Trump first expressed sympathy for the victims, saying: “Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones.”
He then blasted crime levels, and alluded to immigration. Mr Trump made “migrant crime” a core theme of his recent, and successful, election campaign.
“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the fake news media, but it turned out to be true,” he posted on social media.
“The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before.”
To reiterate: the suspect in this incident was reportedly born in the United States, and was a US citizen.
