At least 15 people were killed and over 30 injured in a New Year’s Day truck attack in New Orleans on Wednesday. Among the injured are two Israeli citizens.
“Wishing a swift recovery to the two injured Israeli citizens and all the wounded,” Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar wrote on X. “I instructed Israel’s Consul General in Houston to immediately deploy a representative to the scene. Terror has no place in our world. Israel stands in solidarity with New Orleans and the United States.”
“Terror has no place in our world. Israel stands in solidarity with New Orleans and the United States.” – Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar
No further details were available as of press time about the two Israelis who were injured. Livia Link-Raviv, Consul General of Israel to the Southwest in Houston, was not available for comment.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said that the attack occurred at approximately 3:15 a.m. Central Standard Time, when 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a white Ford F-150 Lightning EV pickup truck into a crowd of people gathered in New Orleans’ French Quarter on Bourbon Street for New Year’s celebrations.
“After hitting the crowd, [the subject] exited the vehicle and fired upon local law enforcement,” the FBI statement said. “Law enforcement returned fire, and the subject was pronounced deceased at the scene. Two law enforcement officers were injured and transported to a local hospital.”
Eyewitnesses said the streets were packed with hundreds of revelers and that Jabbar’s path was unobstructed as he plowed into the victims. Witnesses told NBC News that at least six of the deceased appeared to have been killed instantly.
Blocks away from where the attack in New Orleans occurred, nearly 70,000 football fans were expected to attend the Caesar’s Superdome Wednesday evening for the Sugar Bowl game between the University of Georgia and University of Notre Dame. The game has been postponed until Thursday, January 2nd. Super Bowl LIX is also set to take place in the same stadium on February 9th.
The FBI said that Jabbar was a U.S. citizen from Texas and that the truck “appears to have been rented.” A flag representing the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was found on the truck. The FBI is “working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.”
Jabbar was born in the U.S. in 1983 and served over a decade in the U.S. Army on active duty from 2007-2015, which included a deployment to Afghanistan from February 2009-January 2010. He served as reservist until 2020, and achieved the rank of staff sergeant. He graduated from Beaumont, Texas Central High School in 2001, according to CBS Affiliate KFDM news.
At 7:00 p.m. EST, President Joe Biden spoke about the attack in New Orleans, saying that the situation is fluid and that no one should jump to conclusions as law enforcement and the intelligence community “look for any connections, associations or co-conspirators.”
The President also addressed another truck incident today — a Tesla Cybertruck explosion that took place outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.
“We’re tracking the explosion of a Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas” Biden said, adding that authorities are “investigating this as well, including whether there’s any possible connection with the attack in New Orleans.”
ABC News reported that “multiple law enforcement sources” said that “the Cybertruck that exploded in Las Vegas was rented on Turo — the same app sources said was used to rent the pickup truck used in the deadly attack in New Orleans.”
Clark County Sheriffs in Nevada said that the Cybertruck was rented in Colorado and arrived in Las Vegas at about 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday. One person — the driver inside the truck — was killed in the Las Vegas explosion and seven people were injured; all currently in stable condition.
“New Orleans is a place unlike any other place in the world,” Biden said at the end of his remarks. “It’s a city full of charm and joy. So many people around the world love New Orleans, because of its history, its culture and above all its people. So I know, although this person committed a terrible assault on the city, the spirit of New Orleans will never, never, never be defeated. It always will shine forth. We’ve seen that time and time again throughout its history.”
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