ON NEW YEAR’S Day in New Orleans, Louisiana, a man drove a pick-up truck into a crowd on the city’s bustling Bourbon Street, killing 15 people and injuring another 30.
The suspect was killed in a shootout with police and the FBI continues to investigate the attack as an act of terrorism.
US President Joe Biden called the attack a “despicable” and “heinous act”.
Here is what we know about the attack:
Police said the driver steered around a police blockade and raced through a crowd along Bourbon Street, a thoroughfare in the French Quarter – a popular nightlife spot – at around 3.15am local time on Wednesday.
The street was crowded with people celebrating the new year. Crowds in New Orleans had also ballooned ahead of the Sugar Bowl college football playoff game.
At least 15 people were killed and about 30 injured, while two police officers who were wounded in the shootout with the suspect were reported to be in a stable condition.
Authorities also found potential explosive devices in the French Quarter, the FBI said.
Guns and pipe bombs were found in the suspect’s vehicle, according to the state police bulletin. The devices were concealed within coolers and wired for detonation with a remote control that was also found in the vehicle, the bulletin said.
Surveillance footage showed three men and a woman placing one of multiple improvised explosive devices (IEDs), according to a Louisiana State Police intelligence bulletin obtained by The Associated Press.
The FBI named the driver as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, a US citizen and army veteran from Texas.
A flag representing the Islamic State group was found on the vehicle’s trailer hitch, the FBI said. The bureau is trying to determine if Jabbar was associated with any terrorist organisations.
“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible,” FBI assistant special agent in charge Alethea Duncan said at a news conference.
Police commissioner Anne Kirkpatrick said the driver was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did” and he tried “to run over as many people as he could”.
Jabbar enlisted in the army in March 2007, working in both human resources and information technology.
He deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010, then transferred into the US army reserve in 2015, the service said in a statement.
Jabbar served until July 2020, leaving the military with the rank of staff sergeant.
His neighbours and family described him as a quiet and helpful person, but there were some indications that he had begun behaving more erratically in recent months.
Dwayne Marsh, who is married to Jabbar’s ex-wife, Nakedra Charrlle Marsh, told the New York Times that Jabbar was “being all crazy, cutting his hair” after converting to Islam.
Marsh said he and his wife stopped allowing the two daughters she shared with Jabbar to spend time with him.
The suspect’s brother Abdur Jabbar said that they were brought up Christian but that his brother had converted to Islam a long time ago.
“As far as I know he was a Muslim for most of his life,” said Abdur Jabbar.
“What he did does not represent Islam. This is more some type of radicalization, not religion.”
Information about those killed in the attack is still emerging, but three victims have been identified.
Ni’Kyra Cheyenne Dedeaux (18) had graduated from school in May and was set to begin college later this month, where she had hoped to study nursing, according to reporting from the New York Times.
She was killed while celebrating New Year’s with her cousin.
Reggie Hunter (37) was also celebrating with his cousin after they decided to travel from nearby Baton Rouge, Louisiana for New Year’s.
Reggie was killed while his cousin, Kevin Curry, sustained a broken femur.
Martin “Tiger” Bech was a former American football player at Princeton University. The college confirmed his death in a statement following the attack.
“There was no more appropriate nickname of a Princeton player I coached,” Princeton football coach Bob Surace said in a statement.
Martin’s former high school scheduled a prayer service to mourn his loss.
Also on New Year’s Eve, there was a deadly explosion outside a Las Vegas hotel owned by President-elect Donald Trump.
Fireworks and camp fuel canisters were found stuffed into the back of a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the hotel, killing a suspect inside the vehicle and sparking an intense investigation into possible terrorism.
President Biden said the FBI was looking into whether the Las Vegas explosion was connected to the New Orleans attack, but had “nothing to report” as of yesterday evening.
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