Here is the latest:
- Biden says the FBI has investigated the vehicle attack as an “act of terrorism.”
- The attacker targeted crowds celebrating New Year’s Eve in the city’s French Quarter.
- The FBI identifies the truck driver as a 42-year-old American citizen from Texas.
- The Sugar Bowl at the Superdome, currently closed, was postponed 24 hours.
- The police believe that the suspect did not act alone.
At least 10 people were killed and more than 30 injured after a truck driver plowed into a crowd on historic Bourbon Street in New Orleans early Wednesday, officials said.
After speeding into a crowd of pedestrians, the suspect was killed in a shootout with police, the FBI said on Facebook.
“The FBI is the lead investigative agency and we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism,” the federal agency said.
The FBI has identified the driver as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a US-born citizen from Texas. A flag representing the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was found on the truck and the FBI is trying to determine if it was linked to any terrorist organization, the agency said in a statement.
In an update Wednesday afternoon, the FBI said they do not believe Jabbar acted alone, urging anyone with information to come forward and share it with law enforcement.
The crash happened around 3:15 a.m. local time at the intersection of Canal and Bourbon streets, where a large crowd had gathered to celebrate the New Year in the city’s French Quarter, the city said in a statement.
At a press conference, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the killings as a “terrorist attack,” and the city’s police superintendent said the act was clearly intentional.
Police support. Anne Kirkpatrick said a man in the truck traveled down Bourbon Street “at a very fast pace” and was “trying to run over as many people as possible. It was not a DUI situation.”
“He was determined to create the carnage and damage he did,” she told reporters.
Most of the victims were “locals versus tourists,” she said.
New Orleans Police Support. Anne Kirkpatrick says a man who drove his car into a crowd on Bourbon Street was “trying to run over as many people as possible.”
After the driver got out of the truck, he fired at three police officers, all of whom returned fire, Kirkpatrick said. The two officers who were shot are in stable condition.
The FBI said a possible improvised explosive device was planted in the vehicle and other possible explosive devices were also located in the French Quarter. Both have been made safe and subsequent sweeps have not turned up any other IEDs, although law enforcement officials said Bourbon Street is still considered an active crime scene.
FBI Special Agent Alethea Duncan said Wednesday that Jabarr was an Army veteran and that the truck used in the attack appeared to be a rental.
Officers also found an AR-style handgun and rifle, an official told The Associated Press.
NOLA Ready, the city’s emergency preparedness agency, said the injured were taken to five local hospitals.
‘Everybody started screaming’
Whit Davis, 22, told CNN he was leaving a nightclub at the time of the attack.
“Everybody started screaming and yelling and running back, and then we were basically isolated for a little bit and then it calmed down, but they wouldn’t let us go,” Davis said.
“When they finally let us out of the club, the police were waving us where to go and telling us to get out of the area quickly. I saw several dead bodies they couldn’t even cover and thousands of people getting help the first,” he said.
US President Joe Biden said he had been briefed repeatedly throughout the morning about what had happened.
“I am grateful for the brave and quick response of local law enforcement in preventing even more deaths and injuries,” Biden said in a statement.
“I have directed my team to make sure every resource is available as federal, state and local law enforcement work diligently to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible and ensure there is no remaining threat of any kind.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the attack “horrific,” in a post on social media platform X Wednesday afternoon offering condolences.
“My heart goes out to the loved ones of the victims, those struggling to recover and all affected by this senseless act of violence,” he wrote.
Tom O’Connor, a former FBI agent and expert on domestic extremism, explains how the FBI will investigate the deadly drive-by shooting in New Orleans and what goes into determining whether the attack was carried out for political or ideological reasons.
The sugar bowl was pushed
The incident occurred hours before the start of the Allstate Sugar Bowl, a college football quarterfinal held at the city’s Caesars Superdome, with thousands expected to be in attendance.
Kirkpatrick initially indicated the game would go ahead as planned, saying police officers would work to ensure safety.
In one afternoon at the press conference, officials announced that the match, which was scheduled to start at 19:45 local time on Wednesday, would be postponed for 24 hours.
The Superdome has been placed on lockdown for security clearances, and people with offices at the stadium have been told not to enter work until further notice.
After a deadly truck attack in New Orleans early on New Year’s Day, city council member Oliver Thomas says the incident is an attack on American freedoms, but “we can’t let this stop us from celebrating our freedoms.”
“We don’t want to shut down our economy. We don’t want to shut down these events that we celebrate every year,” New Orleans city council member Oliver Thomas told CBC News.
“But we’re going to have to do something different, especially given the world we’re in today,” he said.
New Orleans is also set to host the Super Bowl later this year, raising security concerns.
