Update: 9:45 p.m.
A U.S. Army veteran driving a pickup truck that bore the flag of the Islamic State group wrought carnage on New Orleans’ raucous New Year’s celebration, killing 15 people as he steered around a police blockade and slammed into revelers before being shot dead by police.
The FBI said it was investigating the attack early Wednesday as a terrorist act and did not believe the driver acted alone. Investigators found guns and what appeared to be an improvised explosive device in the vehicle, along with other devices elsewhere in the city’s famed French Quarter.
President Joe Biden said Wednesday evening that the FBI found videos that the driver had posted to social media hours before the attack in which he said he was inspired by the Islamic State group and expressed a desire to kill.
The rampage turned festive Bourbon Street into a macabre mayhem of maimed victims, bloodied bodies and pedestrians fleeing for safety inside nightclubs and restaurants. In addition to the dead, dozens of people were hurt.
Original article follows
NEW ORLEANS (WWL 105.3 FM) — Federal investigators do not believe the man who committed the deadly Bourbon Street terror attack this morning acted alone.
According to FBI Special Agent Aletha Duncan, the suspect, Shamsud Din-Jabbar, 42, is a United States citizen from Texas who served in the United States Army. Authorities say Jabbar rented the pickup truck he used to speed down Bourbon Street to kill 10 people and injure 35 others. Despite reports and rumors that have circulated, officials are still confirming only 10 deaths in connection with the attack.
Duncan says investigators do not believe Jabbar acted alone.
“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible,” Duncan said during a Wednesday afternoon news conference. “We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates. That’s why we need the public’s help.”
Duncan urges anyone who has had contact with Jabbar over the last three days to contact the FBI immediately.
Governor Jeff Landry says he is calling in 100 military policeman to help patrol in New Orleans in the aftermath of the attack. Landry also signed an emergency declaration that allows Louisiana to utilize federal resources to provide security in the city head of tomorrow’s Sugar Bowl, next month’s Super Bowl, and Mardi Gras.
Meanwhile, Sugar Bowl officials are postponing the annual football game by 24 hours. The game, which a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game, will now be played Thursday night at 7:45. Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley says all of the parties involved in the game agree: postponing the game is the right thing to do.
“We have been in consultation with ESPN, with the College Football Playoff, with the Southeastern Conference, with the University of Georgia, (and) with Notre Dame. All parties agree that it’s in the best interest of everybody and of public safety that we postpone the game for 24 hours.”
While bollards that normally prevent cars from travelling as far down Bourbon Street as Jabbar travelled were not in place, New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick says NOPD Eighth District officers placed cars and other barricades in the road to prevent vehicle traffic in the areas in which vehicles are typically restricted. Kirkpatrick reiterated that Jabbar drove around those barricades before speeding into the crowd of people.
We’re now learning about some of the victims who died in the terror attack. According to our partners at NOLA.com, Tiger Bech, the brother of former LSU wide receiver Jack Bech and himself a former standout football player at St. Thomas More High School in Lafayette, is one of the 10 people killed this morning. The two police officers who were shot in a shootout with Jabbar are on the road to recovery. NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick says those officers will “be okay.”
Governor Landry says that the terrorists will not win and that they will not strike fear in the hearts of New Orleanians or Louisianans. Landry emphatically stated that he will be at the Sugar Bowl Game tomorrow night. He also urged others not to allow the attack to stop them from living their lives.
“We will not allow heinous acts of crime such as the one this morning to dampen the Louisiana spirit and ruin our way of life,” Landry said.
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