It was just after 3am on Wednesday, and while much of the US had already gone to bed after toasting the new year, the party was still going – as it usually does – on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
Then came the sound of a pickup truck, accelerating. In an instant, the city’s best-known, most popular public space was transformed into a scene of death and terror.
“We heard him punch the gas and then the impact and then the screams,” said Kimberly Stricklin, of Mobile, Alabama, who watched with her husband as the white pickup careened on to Bourbon Street and slammed into the crowd. “It just took a moment to register, it was just so frightening – it was like something out of a horror movie.”
Stricklin said she was haunted by the memory of the sounds one victim had made. “I can’t get over that girl’s screams,” she said.
Described by federal authorities as a deliberate act of terror, the attack killed at least 14 people, injured about three dozen others and left New Orleans, a city of 364,000, on edge. The FBI said on Thursday it was “confident” the driver had acted alone, a reversal of its position the previous day.
The driver, who was killed in a shoot-out with police, was identified by the FBI as Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar (42), a US citizen and US army veteran from Texas. He had loaded his rented truck with weapons and at least one “potential” improvised explosive, authorities said, and an Islamic State terror group flag was found on the trailer hitch of his rented Ford pickup.
President Joe Biden, in a short address at Camp David, said the FBI told him that the driver had posted videos on social media “mere hours” before the attack “indicating that he was inspired” by Islamic State.
As law enforcement officers swept through the French Quarter searching out suspicious packages and other potential threats and evidence, authorities urged the public to send tips to aid in the investigation, and vowed to track down everyone involved in the attack.
“We have a plan, we know what to do, and we will get these people,” Anne Kirkpatrick, the New Orleans police superintendent, said at a news conference.
For residents watching events unfold, the day felt both frightening and surreal. Brian O’Brien (57), a tour guide who lives a block from Bourbon Street, said he woke on Wednesday to find a state trooper inspecting a cooler about 30m from his stoop. According to O’Brien, the officer had said the cooler contained pipes, tape and lots of nails, and a bomb squad arrived soon after to detonate the contents.
‘When you think about it, this isn’t really a message and a shot at New Orleans. This is at America’
— Oliver Thomas, New Orleans City Council member
O’Brien recalled hearing a shout of “Fire in the hole!” while he sat, with his ears covered, at a safe distance. “I’m still in shock,” he said.
Two officers were injured when police exchanged gunfire with the suspect after he had crashed and exited his truck; both officers survived.
The Sugar Bowl, part of the college football championship, had drawn tens of thousands of spectators to New Orleans and was scheduled to be played on Wednesday night at the Superdome, about 1.5km from Bourbon Street. It was postponed until Thursday in the wake of the attack.
The victims included Ni’Kyra Cheyenne Dedeaux (18), of Gulfport, Mississippi, who was set to start nursing school this month; Reggie Hunter (37), a warehouse manager and father-of-two from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Tiger Bech, a standout Louisiana high-school athlete who played college football at Princeton.
“Love you always brother!” Jack Bech, Bech’s brother and a football player at Texas Christian University, wrote in a social media post about his family’s loss. “You inspired me every day, now you get to be with me in every moment.”
The attack happened near the intersection of Bourbon Street and Canal Street, on one of the busiest blocks in New Orleans, on one of the busiest nights of the year. Witnesses said the white pickup had sped around the corner from Canal on to Bourbon, easily breaking through or evading whatever modest barriers stood in its way.
Security barriers in the area, designed to protect Bourbon Street pedestrians from vehicles, were being upgraded; according to a notice on the city’s website, construction work to remove old bollards and install stainless-steel replacements began in November and was scheduled to continue into February, in preparation for the Super Bowl, scheduled to be played in New Orleans next month.
City officials said the new bollards were not operational at the time of the attack, and that the suspect drove on to the footpath, avoiding a police car parked in the road.
Stricklin and her husband, Michael Stricklin, said the only obstacle in the way of the accelerating pickup had been a simple police barrier of thin poles. “It was just flimsy,” she said.
The suspect, a Texas native, had converted to Islam, a man who had married his ex-wife said, and had been acting erratically in recent months. Records showed he had been married twice, and had reported financial problems to his ex-wife’s lawyer in 2022.
Before authorities identified the driver as a US citizen and an army veteran, some early reports suggested the vehicle had come across the border from Mexico. President-elect Donald Trump quickly asserted on social media that his condemnations of immigrants in the country without legal permission had been validated.
“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,” Trump said on his website, Truth Social.
US attorney general Merrick Garland said federal investigators were treating the attack as an act of terrorism. The use of the truck as a weapon, along with the discovery of an improvised bomb in a cooler near the crashed vehicle, led officials to conclude that the driver’s goal had been to inflict civilian casualties.
“My heart is broken for those who began their year by learning people they love were killed in this horrific attack,” Garland said. He vowed to “deploy every available resource” to the investigation.
A compact neighbourhood of just six by 13 blocks, tucked along the curving bank of the Mississippi River, the French Quarter of New Orleans is famous for its distinctive architecture, ornate balconies, European flair and late-night party scene. Vibrant festivals on Bourbon Street, where the attack took place, attract revellers from around the world.
[ Who was Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the suspect in New Orleans truck attack?Opens in new window ]
“You’re talking about one of the most iconic cities, and one of the most recognisable streets in the world,” Oliver Thomas, a New Orleans City Council member, said after the attack. “So when you think about it, this isn’t really a message and a shot at New Orleans. This is at America.”
New Orleans is also preparing to host the Super Bowl at the Superdome on February 9th, another event expected to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city
Video clips posted by witnesses on social media showed Bourbon Street emptied of crowds, who had fled as the attack unfolded. Bodies of victims lay sprawled in the street, near gutters littered with empty cups and broken strands of colourful Mardi Gras beads. Stunned bystanders looked down from second-floor balconies.
The attack, by an assailant “set on hurting as many people as he could”, had targeted an area where crowds can be found at any hour, said Jason Williams, the district attorney who represents New Orleans.
“New Orleans is a place that doesn’t close,” Williams said, adding: “There’s always people, there’s always people out.”
This year’s Sugar Bowl, between the University of Georgia and Notre Dame, had been expected to bring as many as 100,000 people to the city, organisers said.
A University of Georgia student was among those critically injured in the attack, the school’s president said in a statement. The president, Jere W Morehead, did not disclose the student’s name but said he had spoken to the family.
New Orleans is also preparing to host the Super Bowl at the Superdome on February 9th, another event expected to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city.
Wednesday’s incident is the latest in a long succession of vehicle-based attacks on crowds, some dating back decades. The tactic has frequently been used by extremist organisations and radicalised individuals to kill, injure and instil fear, employing one of the most commonplace objects in modern life to do so.
The attack is at least the third deadly incident internationally in which a vehicle was deliberately driven into a crowd in a little more than seven weeks, following the use of SUVs to kill five people in Magdeburg, Germany a few days before Christmas, and at least 35 people in southern China in November. – This article originally appeared in The New York Times
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