Death toll in New Orleans vehicle attack rises to 15, over 30 injured
Here’s the latest:
- FBI investigating vehicle attack, with initial death toll of 10, as “act of terrorism.”
- Attacker targeted crowd celebrating the new year in the city’s French Quarter.
- FBI identifies truck driver as 42-year-old U.S.-born citizen from Texas.
- Sugar Bowl at Superdome, currently on lockdown, postponed 24 hours.
- Police believe the suspect did not act alone.
Fifteen people were killed and more than 30 injured after the driver of a pickup truck steered around a police blockade and rammed the vehicle into a crowd on historic Bourbon Street in New Orleans early Wednesday, authorities said.
After driving at high speed into the crowd of pedestrians, the suspect was killed in a firefight with police. The FBI has said it is investigating the vehicle attack as “an act of terrorism.”
The driver has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a U.S.-born citizen from Texas. A flag representing the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was found in the truck and the FBI is trying to determine if he was associated with any terrorist organizations, the agency said in a statement.
By late Wednesday afternoon, the death toll had risen to 15, the New Orleans coroner confirmed. Authorities previously said at least 10 people had died.
In an update Wednesday afternoon, the FBI added that they do not believe Jabbar acted alone, calling for anyone with information to come forward and share it with law enforcement.
The ramming took place around 3:15 a.m. local time at the intersection of Canal and Bourbon streets where a large crowd had gathered to celebrate the new year in the city’s French Quarter, the city said in a statement.
Police Supt. Anne Kirkpatrick said a man in the truck drove down Bourbon Street “at a very fast pace,” and was “trying to run over as many people as he possibly could.”
“He was hell-bent on creating the carnage and damage that he did,” she told reporters.
The vehicle drove up onto the sidewalk to bypass a police vehicle and temporary barriers that had been set up to block vehicular traffic, Kirkpatrick said. Officials explained that the usual bollards designed to prevent vehicle attacks weren’t present because they were undergoing repairs in preparation for the Super Bowl, which is being played in the city in February.
New Orleans Police Supt. Anne Kirkpatrick says a man who drove into a crowd on Bourbon Street was ‘trying to run over as many people as he possibly could.’
After the driver emerged from the truck, he fired on three police officers, who all returned fire, Kirkpatrick said. Two officers who were shot are in stable condition.
Guns and pipe bombs were also found in the vehicle, according to a Louisiana State Police intelligence bulletin obtained by The Associated Press. The devices, concealed within coolers, were wired for remote detonation, the bulletin said, and a corresponding remote control was discovered inside the vehicle.
The FBI said other potential explosive devices were also located in the French Quarter. According to the intelligence bulletin, surveillance footage captured three men and a woman placing one of multiple improvised explosive devices.
FBI special agent Alethea Duncan said Wednesday that Jabarr was an army veteran and that the pickup truck used in the attack appeared to have been rented.
‘Everyone started yelling’
Whit Davis, 22, told CNN he was leaving a nightclub at the time of the attack.
“Everyone started yelling and screaming and running to the back, and then we basically went into lockdown for a little bit and then it calmed down, but they wouldn’t let us leave,” Davis said.
“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,” he said.
NOLA Ready, the city’s emergency preparedness agency, said the injured were taken to five local hospitals.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he has been continually briefed throughout the morning on what occurred.
“I am grateful for the brave and swift response of local law enforcement in preventing even greater death and injury,” Biden said in a statement.
“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.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the attack “horrifying,” in a post on the social media platform X on Wednesday afternoon expressing condolences.
“My heart is with the loved ones of the victims, those fighting to recover, and everyone impacted by this senseless act of violence,” he wrote.
Tom O’Connor, a former FBI agent and an expert on domestic extremism, explains how the FBI will investigate the deadly car attack in New Orleans and what goes into determining if the attack was done for political or ideological reasons.
Sugar Bowl postponed
The incident came hours before the kickoff of the Allstate Sugar Bowl, a college football quarter-final held in the city’s Caesars Superdome, with thousands expected to be in attendance.
Kirkpatrick initially indicated that the game would go on as scheduled, saying police officers would work to ensure safety.
At an afternoon news conference, officials announced that the game, which was scheduled to begin at 7:45 p.m. local time Wednesday, would be postponed for 24 hours.
Following a deadly truck attack in New Orleans early on New Year’s Day, city council member Oliver Thomas says the incident is an attack on American freedoms, but ‘we cannot let this stop us from celebrating our freedoms.’
The Superdome has been put on lockdown for security sweeps, and people with offices in the stadium were told not to come into work until further notice.
“We don’t want to shut down our economy. We don’t want to shut down these events that we celebrate every year,” New Orleans city council member Oliver Thomas told CBC News.
“But we’re going to have to do something different, especially given the world we’re in today,” he said.
Published at Wed, 01 Jan 2025 11:44:46 +0000
1 dead after Tesla Cybertruck explodes, catches fire outside Trump hotel in Las Vegas
One person died and seven others were injured Wednesday when a Tesla Cybertruck that appeared to be carrying fireworks caught fire and exploded outside U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel, authorities said.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and Clark County Fire Department officials told a news conference that a person died inside the futuristic-looking pickup truck and they were working to get the body out. Seven people nearby had minor injuries and several were taken to a hospital.
The fire in the valet area of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas was reported at 8:40 a.m., a county spokesperson said in a statement.
According to a law enforcement official, the truck was rented via the Turo app and appeared to have a load of fireworks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
A Turo spokesperson did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Tesla investigating, Musk says
Law enforcement officials have not ruled out terrorism as a possible motive, a person familiar with the matter said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation.
“I know you have a lot of questions,” Jeremy Schwartz, acting special agent in charge for the FBI’s Las Vegas office, told reporters. “We don’t have a lot of answers.”
President Joe Biden was briefed on the explosion, which came hours after a driver rammed a truck into a crowd in the French Quarter in New Orleans early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 10 people. The suspect was killed in a shootout with police.
“The whole Tesla senior team is investigating this matter right now,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote in a statement on X, the social media platform he owns. “We’ve never seen anything like this.”
Witness heard 3 explosions
In Las Vegas, witness Ana Bruce, visiting from Brazil, said she heard three explosions.
“The first one where we saw the fire, the second one, I guess, was the battery or something like that, and the third was the big one that smoked the entire area and was the moment when everyone was told to evacuate and stay away,” Bruce said.
Her travel companion, Alcides Antunes, showed video he took of flames lapping the sides of the silver-coloured vehicle.
The 64-storey hotel is just off the Las Vegas Strip and across the street from the Fashion Show Las Vegas shopping mall.
Eric Trump, a son of the president-elect and executive vice-president of the Trump Organization, posted about the fire on X, praising the fire department and local law enforcement “for their swift response and professionalism.”
Published at Wed, 01 Jan 2025 23:11:41 +0000
