(WWJ) — A day after more than a dozen people were killed in a New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans, federal authorities now say the attacker acted alone when he drove a pickup truck into a large crowd of revelers.
Officials say 14 people were killed — as well as the suspect, who was fatally shot by police — while more than 30 were injured. Authorities also found multiple explosive devices around the French Quarter that did not detonate.
On Thursday afternoon a plane full of Metro Detroiters returning to the area landed at Detroit Metro Airport after leaving from New Orleans earlier in the day.
A couple from Woodhaven, Daniel and Melissa, told WWJ Newsradio 950’s Jon Hewett they had returned to their hotel at the corner of Bourbon Street and Canal Street — right where the attack happened — around 1:30 a.m. and had gone to bed by 2 a.m., but were woken up by the attack.
“We heard a loud boom and I put on clothes to go outside and went downstairs and they were already clearing Bourbon Street away; they had a lot of police there,” Daniel said.
He said by the time he had gotten to the hotel lobby, people were already saying there was a large number of bodies on the ground, though there were conflicting reports on whether it had been a shooting or people being run over.
He told Hewett the attack "could have been much worse" if it had happened earlier in the night, as the crowd had largely started to clear out by the time it happened, around 3:15 a.m.
“If you watch the videos, when he goes down the street, they’re empty. He went four blocks and only hit 50 people. If it was at 1:30 when we came back, he’d have gone a quarter of a block and hit 100 people. If it was midnight, 1:30, it would’ve been hundreds of people in the first half block,” Daniel said.
Melissa said one of the explosive devices was reportedly placed right by the terrace party they had attended earlier in the night, but it thankfully was not detonated.
One woman, Tatiana from Oxford, said she and her friends had celebrated New Year’s Eve on Bourbon Street Tuesday night and left early, only to hear what had happened later on.
When they returned to near Bourbon Street later on Wednesday, she described it as “eerily quiet.” She said their Uber driver told them he and his friends witnessed the attack and saw police officers running into action.
The terrorist attack led authorities to postpone Wednesday night's Sugar Bowl at the Superdome between Georgia and Notre Dame until Thursday afternoon. Valerie from Ann Arbor told Hewett she and her daughter had left Bourbon Street relatively early Tuesday night due to the large crowd, many of which were football fans.
FBI officials also said on Thursday they have found no apparent link between the New Orleans attack and an explosion in a Tesla Cybertruck in front of a Las Vegas hotel owned by President-Elect Donald Trump.