A man driving a white pickup truck murdered at least 15 people and injured dozens more when he rammed his truck into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans before jumping out and shooting cops early this morning.
The suspect has been identified as Shamsud Din Jabbar, 42, of Texas. He had an ISIS flag, guns, and explosives in his truck.
“The city of New Orleans was impacted by a terrorist attack,” said New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. Cops said the killer was “hellbent” on “carnage.” He was shot and killed after a short a gun battle with police. The killer shot two police officers in the process.
The killings of innocent civilians occurred where Bourbon and Canal Streets meet in the French Quarter neighborhood. A crowd was there to look at New Orleans’ New Year’s Eve fireworks.
In addition to those who died, at least 35 others were sent to the hospital after a man deliberately drove through barricades and down the street at a “very fast pace,” said New Orleans Police police chief Anne Kirkpatrick. “This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could… was hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.”
The killer then jumped out of the truck and began shooting at the police, injuring at least two cops, as other cops opened fire, she said. Explosives were found at the scene.
Alethea Duncan, the head of the FBI’s New Orleans field office, said the Bureau was in the process of examining an improvised explosive device found at the scene.
Videos circulating on social media platforms showed dozens of bloodied bodies on the street as gunshots could be heard.
People struck by the truck were taken to five local hospitals, such as Touro Hospital, University Medical Center, and East Jefferson General Hospital.
The killings occurred a few hours before the football playoff between the University of Georgia and Notre Dame at the Superdome in New Orleans.
Jim and Nicole Mowrer, who were visiting New Orleans, said they were watching fireworks when they heard crashing noises and saw the truck driving down the street “at a high rate of speed.” They tried to help several people struck by the truck but found that they were already dead. Nicole Mowrer said, “We were pretty, pretty close to where it started. Once it was past us, we did hear gunfire, saw police running that direction. Once the gunfire stopped, we stayed in the alcove until the gunfire stopped, came out into the street, and came across a lot of — several people who had been hit,” we “wanted to see what we could do to help.”
