NEW ORLEANS — Two Israeli citizens were among the injured in an attack in New Orleans where a suspected terrorist carrying an Islamic State flag steered around a police blockade and rammed a pickup truck into a crowd before being shot to death by police, authorities said Wednesday.
At least 10 people were killed and 30 wounded in the New Year’s Eve attack that struck revelers at around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday and turned festive Bourbon Street into macabre mayhem.
The FBI is investigating the attack as an act of terrorism and said it does not believe the driver acted alone. An Islamic State group flag was found on the vehicle’s trailer hitch, the FBI said.
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.
The FBI said other potential explosive devices were also located in the French Quarter. According to the intelligence bulletin, surveillance footage captured three men and a woman placing one of multiple improvised explosive devices.
“This is not just an act of terrorism. This is evil,” New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said. The driver “defeated” safety measures that were in place to protect pedestrians, she said, and was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.”
Emergency services attend the scene on Bourbon Street after a vehicle drove into a crowd on New Orleans’ Canal and Bourbon Street, Wednesday Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The FBI identified the driver as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a US citizen and Army veteran from Texas and said it is working to determine Jabbar’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.
“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible,” Alethea Duncan, an assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans field office, said at a news conference.
Jabbar drove onto a sidewalk, going around a police car that was positioned to block vehicular traffic and protect Bourbon Street revelers, 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.
FBI investigators arrive at the scene where the white Ford F-150 pickup truck that crashed into a work lift after allegedly driving into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 1, 2025. (Photo by Matthew HINTON / AFP)
Police killed Jabbar after he exited the vehicle and opened fire on responding officers, police said. Three officers returned fire. Two were shot and are in stable condition, police said. They were in addition to 33 people injured in the vehicle attack.
The condition of the Israelis injured was not immediately clear, but the Foreign Ministry said that it was contact with the hospital and the victims’ families. Additionally, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he had directed Israel’s Consulate General in Houston to travel to New Orleans to assist with the situation.
“Terror has no place in our world. Israel stands in solidarity with New Orleans and the United States,” Sa’ar said.
Deeply saddened by the terrorist attack in New Orleans. My heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the victims. Wishing a swift recovery to the two injured Israeli citizens and all the wounded. I instructed Israel’s Consul General in Houston to immediately deploy a…
— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) January 1, 2025
A photo circulated among law enforcement officials showed a bearded Jabbar wearing camouflage next to the truck after he was killed.
Investigators recovered a handgun and AR-style rifle after the shootout, a law enforcement official said. The official was not authorized to discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“When I got to work this morning, it was kind of pandemonium everywhere,” Derick Fleming, chief bellhop at a downtown hotel, told The Associated Press. “There were a couple of bodies on the ground covered up. Police were looking for bombs in garbage cans.”
Zion Parsons told NOLA.com that he and two friends were leaving a Bourbon Street restaurant when he heard a “commotion” and “banging” and turned his head to see a vehicle barreling onto the pavement toward them. He dodged the vehicle, but it struck one of his friends.
“I yell her name, and I turn my head, and her leg is twisted and contorted above and around her back. And there was just blood,” Parsons said. The 18-year-old said he ran after hearing gunshots shortly thereafter.
“As you’re walking down the street, you can just look and see bodies, just bodies of people, just bleeding, broken bones,” he said. “I just ran until I couldn’t hear nothing no more.”
The scene after a vehicle drove into a crowd on New Orleans’ Canal and Bourbon Street, Wednesday Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Hours after the attack, several coroner’s office vans were parked on the corner of Bourbon and Canal streets, cordoned off by police tape with crowds of dazed tourists standing around, some trying to navigate their luggage through the labyrinth of blockades.
“We looked out our front door and saw caution tape and dead silence and it’s eerie,” said Tessa Cundiff, an Indiana native who moved to the French Quarter a few years ago. “This is not what we fell in love with, it’s sad.”
Elsewhere, life went on as normal in the city known to some for a motto that translates to “let the good times roll.”
Close to where the truck came to rest, some people were talking about the attack while others dressed in Georgia gear talked football. At a cafe a block away, people crowded in for breakfast as upbeat pop music played. Two blocks away, people drank at a bar, seemingly as if nothing happened.
“We recognize that there are tourists around us, and we urge all to avoid the French Quarter as this is an active investigation,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said. “We understand the concerns of the community and want to reassure everyone that the safety of the French Quarter and the city of New Orleans remains our top priority.”
US President Joe Biden, speaking to reporters in Delaware, said he felt “anger and frustration” over the attack but would refrain from further comment until more is known.
A New Orleans police officer searches the area near a crime scene after a vehicle drove into a crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street earlier, Wednesday Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)
“My heart goes out to the victims and their families who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday,” Biden said in a statement. “There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities.”
The attack is the latest example of a vehicle being used as a weapon to carry out mass violence, a trend that has alarmed law enforcement officials and that can be difficult to protect against.
If confirmed as IS-inspired, the attack would represent the deadliest such assault on US soil in years, coming as FBI officials have repeatedly warned about an elevated international terrorism threat in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
The FBI in the last year has disrupted other potential attacks inspired by the terror group, including in October when agents arrested an Afghan man in Oklahoma accused of plotting an Election Day attack targeting large crowds.
Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report
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