New footage has surfaced showing the moments leading up to a terror attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans that claimed 15 lives and left multiple others injured on New Year. The attacker, identified as Shamsud Din Jabbar, allegedly navigated around a police cruiser barricade before driving a truck into a crowd of revelers.
The footage, shared on X, shows that several vehicles had crossed the barricade amidst congested streets, a result of the festivities.
Witnesses allege that the barricades in place were inadequate. “We have these hydraulic steel barriers from past events. Those barricades were not up, period. They had the flimsy orange ones that you could just push over with your finger,” a witness told CNN.
Local reports also indicate that the city was in the process of replacing the bollards on Bourbon Street.
Chilling details of the attack
Jabbar’s attack unfolded in the heart of the French Quarter, where he drove a truck into a densely packed crowd before being fatally shot during a gunfight with police. The aftermath revealed a scene of carnage, as Bourbon Street had been bustling with celebrants ushering in the year 2025.
According to police commissioner Anne Kirkpatrick, the suspect was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did” and made deliberate attempts “to run over as many people as he could.”
The FBI’s special agent in charge, Alethea Duncan, disclosed that evidence recovered from Jabbar’s vehicle—including weapons, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and an ISIS flag—has led investigators to suspect a network of accomplices. “This was not an isolated act,” Duncan said.
Biden condemn incident, Trump blame ‘illegal immigration’
Condemnations poured in from across the political spectrum. US President Joe Biden said, “There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities.” Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump linked the incident to illegal immigration, claiming, “They’re worse than the criminals we have in our country.”
