At least 15 people have been killed after a US Army veteran with an ISIS flag on his truck swerved around makeshift barriers and ploughed into New Orleans’ crowded French Quarter on New Year’s Day, officials say.
Some 35 people were injured as Wednesday’s attack turned festive Bourbon Street into macabre mayhem and led to a one-day postponement of a college football playoff game that drew tens of thousands of fans to the city.
Police identified the suspect as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a US citizen from Texas. Officials said the death toll could rise as some of those injured were in critical condition.
Surveillance video captured three men and a woman placing an improvised explosive device in the French Quarter, the Associated Press reported, citing a Louisiana State Police intelligence bulletin.
The FBI is investigating the attack as an act of terrorism and said it does not believe the driver acted alone.
“An ISIS flag was located in the vehicle, and the FBI is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organisations,” the FBI said in a statement.
Guns and pipe bombs were also found in the vehicle, according to a Louisiana State Police intelligence bulletin obtained by The Associated Press. The devices, which were concealed within coolers, were wired for remote detonation, the bulletin said, and a corresponding remote control was discovered inside the vehicle.
“This is not just an act of terrorism. This is evil,” New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said.
“This man was trying to run over as many people as he could. He was hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.”
The FBI said Jabbar drove onto a footpath, going around a police car that was positioned to block vehicular traffic and protect Bourbon Street revellers, authorities said. A barrier system designed to prevent vehicle attacks was undergoing repairs in preparation for the Super Bowl, which is being played in the city in February.
Police killed Jabbar after he exited the vehicle and opened fire on responding officers, authorities said. Three officers returned fire. Two were shot and are in stable condition, police said.
A photo circulated among law enforcement officials showed a bearded Jabbar wearing camouflage next to the truck after he was killed.
The FBI said the vehicle appeared to have been rented.
Kirkpatrick said the driver, who swerved around barricades, shot and wounded two police officers from the vehicle after it crashed.
The officers were in stable condition, she added.
“We know the perpetrator has been killed,” New Orleans City councilman Oliver Thomas said.
“As we search for a motive, remember there is no making sense of evil.”
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell called the incident a terrorist attack.
“This is a fluid situation and we are in co-ordination with numerous local and federal law enforcement agencies to ensure a complete and thorough investigation to bring those who may have been part of this incident to justice,” Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said on X.
A couple told CBS News they heard crashing noises coming from down the street and then saw a white truck slam through a barricade “at a high rate of speed”.
Zion Parsons, 18, told NOLA.com that he and his two friends were leaving a Bourbon Street eatery when they heard a commotion and saw a white car barrelling toward them.
He said he dodged the vehicle but one of his friends was struck, with her leg “twisted and contorted above and around her back”.
US President Joe Biden called the city’s mayor to offer full federal support, the White House said in a statement.
Biden said the FBI was investigating the “horrific incident” as “an act of terrorism” and that he has directed his team to ensure every resource is available as authorities work to “get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible”.
President-elect Donald Trump said his incoming administration would help New Orleans as it investigates and recovers from what he called an act of pure evil.
with Reuters and EFE
