At least 15 people have been killed and dozens more injured in New Orleans, the United States, after a man smashed a pick-up truck into New Year’s revellers in an attack that authorities have linked to ISIL (ISIS).
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday 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 on Wednesday, but there was so far “nothing to report on that score.”
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 at about 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 the 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: 2 killed, 6 injured after car hits crowd
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. Special Agent 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 news 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 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 through the White House.
“My heart goes out to the victims and their families who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday,” he said. “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 Jeff Landry urged people to stay away from the Bourbon Street area, as the investigation continues. Multiple blocks were 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 attack 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.”
