Vehicle rams New Year’s revelers in New Orleans, killing 10; ‘terror’ suspect ID’d

Vehicle rams New Year’s revelers in New Orleans, killing 10; ‘terror’ suspect ID’d

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The suspect in a deadly attack on New Year’s revelers in New Orleans has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas, according to the FBI.

At least 10 people were killed and dozens injured after a man drove a Ford pickup truck through a crowd on Bourbon Street at a high rate of speed early Wednesday, authorities said.

Authorities are working to determine whether the deceased suspect had any affiliation with terrorist organizations after an ISIS flag was located in the vehicle, the FBI said.

After barreling through the crowd over a three-block stretch, the suspect allegedly got out of the truck wielding an assault rifle and opened fire on police officers, law enforcement officials briefed on the incident told ABC News. Officers returned fire, killing the suspect, police said. At least two police officers were shot and wounded, authorities said.

“This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could,” New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said at a press briefing on Wednesday. “It was not a DUI situation. This is more complex and more serious.”

She said the driver was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.”

Weapons and a “potential IED” were located in the subject’s vehicle, according to the FBI, which is leading the investigation.

“Other potential IEDs were also located in the French Quarter,” the FBI said in a statement. “The FBI’s Special Agent Bomb Technicians are working with our law enforcement partners to determine if any of these devices are viable and they will work to render those devices safe.”

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the horrific incident as a “terrorist attack” and the FBI said it was being investigated as an act of terror.

Investigators are probing whether the suspect acted alone or had help from others in planning and executing the attack, Jason Williams, the district attorney of Orleans Parish, which includes New Orleans, told ABC News.

The truck used in the attack appeared to be a Ford F-150 Lightning, an electric vehicle. It appears the truck was rented through the Turo app — a carsharing company, according to Rodrigo Diaz, the owner of the truck.

Diaz told ABC News he rented the truck to an individual through the app and is currently talking to the FBI. He declined further comment.

Diaz’s wife, Dora Diaz, told ABC News that she and her husband are devastated by the incident.

“My husband rents cars through the Turo app. I can’t tell you anything else. I’m here with my kids, and this is devastating,” Dora Diaz said.

ABC News has reached out to Turo.

Jabbar’s vehicle raced into a crowd of New Orleans revelers early on New Year’s Day, killing 10 people and injuring 35 others in what the FBI is investigating as an act of terrorism.

The driver of the vehicle was killed in a firefight with police following the attack around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday along Bourbon Street in the city’s bustling French Quarter, the FBI said.

After the vehicle came to a stop, the driver emerged from the truck and open fire on responding officers, New Orleans police said. Officers returned fire, striking and killing the driver, police said.

Two officers were shot and are in stable condition, police said. They were among 35 people injured.

At a news conference, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the killings as a “terrorist attack” and the city’s police chief said the act was clearly intentional.

Police Commissioner Anne Kirkpatrick said the driver was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.”

“It was very intentional behavior. This man was trying to run over as many people as he could,” Kirkpatrick said.

FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan said officials were investigating the at least one suspected improvised explosive device at the scene.

The area is known as one of the largest New Year’s Eve destinations.

Crowds in the city were ballooning in anticipation of Wednesday night’s Sugar Bowl college football playoff game at the nearby Superdome between Georgia and Notre Dame.

Kirkpatrick said police officers would work to ensure safety at the Sugar Bowl, indicating that the game would go on as scheduled.

Kevin Garcia, 22, told CNN that he saw a truck slamming into people on a sidewalk and heard gunshots.

“A body came flying at me,” he said.

Whit Davis told the network that he heard people yelling and running to the back as he was leaving a nightclub.

“When they finally let us out of the club, police waved us where to walk and were telling us to get out of the area fast. I saw a few dead bodies they couldn’t even cover up and tons of people receiving first aid,” said Davis, 22.

The injured were taken to five hospitals, the city’s emergency preparedness department said.

The White House said President Joe Biden had been briefed, and the Justice Department said Attorney General Merrick Garland was also briefed.

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.

A 50-year-old Saudi doctor plowed into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers in the German city of Magdeburg last month, killing four women and a 9-year-old boy. A man who drove his SUV through a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee in 2021 is serving a life sentence after a judge rejected arguments from him and his family that mental illness drove him to do it. Six people were killed.

An Islamic extremist was sentenced last year to 10 life sentences for killing eight people with a truck on a bike path in Manhattan on Halloween in 2017. Also in 2017, a self-proclaimed admirer of Adolf Hitler slammed his car into counter-protesters at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia and is now serving a life sentence.

By ERIC TUCKER and JIM MUSTIAN/Associated Press

Stephen Smith, Kevin McGill, Zeke Miller and Chevel Johnson contributed to this report.

Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department and the special counsel cases against former President Donald Trump.

Mustian is an Associated Press investigative reporter for breaking news.