At least 15 people have been killed and more than 30 others injured after a man smashed a pickup truck into New Year’s revelers in the US city of New Orleans in an attack that authorities have linked to ISIL (ISIS).
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday said that the FBI had informed him that the suspect had posted videos on social media indicating that he was inspired by the Middle East-based armed group.
“To all the people in New Orleans who are grieving, I grieve with you,” President Biden said in remarks from the presidential retreat at Camp David.
“Our nation grieves with you.”
Biden also said authorities were investigating any possible links to the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a hotel belonging to US President-elect Donald Trump in Las Vegas.
The FBI said earlier on Wednesday that it did not believe that the suspect, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, had acted alone and that authorities had found an ISIL flag on his truck’s trailer hitch.
“The FBI is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organisations,” Alethea Duncan, the assistant special agent in charge of the New Orleans FBI, told reporters.
“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible,” Duncan said. “We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates.”
Duncan said potential improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, were located in the city’s French Quarter and had been rendered safe.
Wednesday’s attack occurred around 3:15am (09:15 GMT) near the intersection of Canal and Bourbon streets, a busy pedestrian thoroughfare in the heart of New Orleans’s historic French Quarter.
The New Orleans Police Department said that suspect’s car struck multiple pedestrians before crashing.
Jabbar, a US citizen and army veteran, was shot dead by police after opening fire on responding officers, authorities said.
Videos shared online and verified by Al Jazeera show people fleeing the scene of the incident after gunshots rang out.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said that the suspect had been trying to run over “as many people as he could.”
“He was hellbent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did,” Kirkpatrick told reporters.
Kirkpatrick said the suspect injured two police officers during the gunfire exchange, but they were in “stable” condition.
Questions of motive
The incident came as late-night New Year’s celebrations continued on Bourbon Street, a popular destination for partygoers, packed with bars and venues for music and dancing.
It also happened hours before the planned kickoff of the Allstate Sugar Bowl, a college football quarterfinal held in the city’s Caesars Superdome, with thousands expected to be in attendance. The game was subsequently postponed for 24 hours following the attack.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the incident as a “terrorist attack”. She said local officials have been collaborating with state and local authorities, and that her priority was ensuring the safety of the victims.
“We do know the city of New Orleans was impacted by a terrorist attack,” Cantrell said in a predawn news conference. “It’s all still under investigation.”
Law enforcement had initially appeared wary of designating the event as a “terrorist” attack. Duncan had said earlier in the day: “This is not a terrorist event.”
By late Wednesday, however, the FBI announced it had expanded its investigation to Houston, Texas, where the suspect had family ties.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera correspondent Rosiland Jordan noted that, while the FBI is treating the incident as an act of terrorism, the bureau has yet to reveal the full extent of its evidence.
“ Motive is the big question,” Jordan explained. “They don’t know whether this person had any ulterior motives. They don’t know if this person had any assistance. They don’t know, if indeed this had been planned, how long this incident had been in the planning.”
She noted that there had been a heightened police presence in New Orleans for the New Year’s festivities, as well as to provide security for the Sugar Bowl football game.
But some of the barriers that ordinarily would have been in place to prevent a car-ramming had been removed at the time of Wednesday’s attack, according to local media reports.
The city had been in the process of replacing bollards — poles designed to impede traffic — in advance of the Super Bowl LIX game, the pinnacle of the American football season, set to be held in New Orleans in February.
However, it is unclear whether the barriers were a factor in Wednesday’s incident, with some witnesses reporting seeing the truck drive around them.
Kirkpatrick appeared to confirm that account in a press conference.
“This particular terrorist drove around, onto the sidewalk, and got around the hard target, where we did have a car there, we had barriers there, we had officers there. And they still got around,” she said.
Officials react
Early on Wednesday, the White House indicated that President Joe Biden had been briefed on the situation and spoken with Mayor Cantrell in the hours since the fatal attack.
Later, Biden himself issued a statement. “My heart goes out to the victims and their families who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday,” he wrote. “There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities.”
He credited the “swift response of local law enforcement” with preventing further death and injury.
Another member of the Biden administration, Attorney General Merrick Garland, called the car-ramming a “terrible tragedy”.
“My heart is broken for those who began their year by learning people they love were killed in this horrific attack,” Garland, the top law enforcement officer in the federal government, wrote in a statement.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also encouraged “the public to be vigilant” in the aftermath of the attack.
Meanwhile, Louisiana Governor Landry urged people to stay away from the Bourbon Street area, as the investigation continues. Multiple blocks had been cordoned off after the car-ramming.
“A horrific act of violence took place on Bourbon Street earlier this morning,” Landry wrote on the social media platform X, adding that he was “praying for all the victims and first responders on the scene”.
Trump likewise offered condolences in the aftermath of the attack, calling it an “act of pure evil”.
But in a social media post, he used the car-ramming to underscore one of the primary pillars of his political agenda: limiting immigration into the US.
Trump implied immigrants were involved in the attack, though the FBI later identified the suspect as a US citizen.
“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media,” Trump wrote. “Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department.”
Al Jazeera correspondent Kimberly Halkett said that Wednesday’s social media post echoes the anti-immigration message Trump championed on the campaign trail.
“ This is consistent with President Trump’s ongoing theme that he wants to limit immigration into the United States, particularly those that he believes are undocumented,” Halkett said.
A Republican who previously served as president from 2017 to 2021, Trump won a second term in the White House during November’s general elections and is slated to return to office on January 20.
Tourism an economic lifeline
Jordan also noted that the car-ramming happened at a pivotal time for New Orleans, a city whose economy relies on tourism.
Parades for the Christian holiday of Mardi Gras draw crowds from around the world, as does the city’s jazz scene.
“This is a very, very significant incident. It comes just as New Orleans is entering its peak tourism season, about two months before Mardi Gras and the start of the Christian Lent period, before Easter,” Jordan said.
An estimated 43 million tourists visit Louisiana every year, according to state statistics. In 2023 alone, visitors spent a total $18.1bn and generated $1.9bn in state and local taxes.
“Anything that might have a negative impact on what local businesses are counting on — which is bringing in thousands and thousands of people for tourism — could have a negative impact on the New Orleans economy,” Jordan explained.
The National Football League (NFL) has expressed its support for the Louisiana city, saying it would proceed with planning its Super Bowl championship game there. It added that it had collaborated with state, local and federal officials for two years to ensure “comprehensive security plans” for February’s game.
“We are confident attendees will have a safe and enjoyable Super Bowl experience,” the NFL said in a statement.
In the lead-up to the postponed Sugar Bowl game, the Superdome stadium also underwent extensive security sweeps. Governor Landry told reporters he would be in attendance to show support.
The New Year’s Day car-ramming incident is not the first time New Orleans has weathered tragedy during its famed celebrations.
This past November, for instance, two people were killed and 10 others injured in two separate shootings during a “second line”, a traditional New Orleans parade known for brass bands and dancing.
And in February 2017, police said a man who appeared highly intoxicated plowed his pickup truck into a crowd of spectators watching the main Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, injuring more than 20 people.
New Orleans has struggled with a high homicide rate in recent years, with some media outlets dubbing it the “murder capital of the United States”. But officials have touted a decline in violent crime.
In December, New Orleans police officials noted that crime overall in the city had slumped 26 percent in 2024, compared with the previous year. Murders had likewise dropped 35 percent.
“New Orleans police have proven their ability to make this city safer. Just two years ago, we were the murder capital of America. Today, from that time two years ago, we have driven our murder rate more than 50 percent down,” Kirkpatrick said.
“But this is different. Because it’s terrorism.”
