NEW ORLEANS — A Texas man drove his truck flying an ISIS flag through a crowd celebrating New Year’s Eve in New Orleans early Wednesday morning, killing at least 15 and injuring more than 30 others.
The driver, identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, rammed his white Ford truck through the crowd around 3:15 a.m., the incident is now being investigated as an act of terrorism.
Jabbar opened fire on responding police officers, wounding two. He died in the gunfight.
Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran, also had weapons and a potential improvised explosive device in the rented truck, the FBI said. There also were other possible IEDs planted nearby in the city’s French Quarter.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the city of New Orleans was “impacted by a terrorist attack.” President Joe Biden was been briefed on the attack and has been getting regular updates, according to a White House official.
“I have been continually briefed since early this morning by federal law enforcement leadership and my homeland security team, including Secretary of Homeland Security Ali Mayorkas, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall, and the Mayor of New Orleans regarding the horrific incident that occurred there overnight,” Biden said in a written statement.
“I am grateful for the brave and swift response of local law enforcement in preventing even greater death and injury,” the President added. “I have directed my team to ensure every resource is available as federal, state, and local law enforcement work assiduously to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible and to ensure that there is no remaining threat of any kind.”
Jabbar served in the Army on active duty from 2006 to 2015 and then in the Army Reserves from 2015 to 2020, according to three U.S. defense officials. He left with an honorable discharge in 2020, the officials said.
“This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could,” Anne Kirkpatrick, superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department, said at a news conference. “He was hell bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.”
President-elect Donald Trump called the incident “pure evil”.
“Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!” Trump wrote in a statement.
This is a developing story and will be updated with more information.
