New Orleans authorities on Wednesday announced 10 deaths and 35 injuries after “a mass casualty incident involving a vehicle that drove into a large crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street.”
“Get yourself away from the area,” the city’s public alert system announced early on January 1, with revelers still on the streets.
According to an FBI statement, he suspect was identified as 42-year-old Shamsud D.J., a US army veteran, with a flag of Islamist group Islamic State (IS) having been recovered from his car. The suspect was also carrying a potential improvised explosive device (IED). The FBI is investigating the incident as an act of terrorism.
The suspected perpetrator was killed during a shootout with police.
The FBI also said it doesn’t believe the New Orleans attacker was “solely responsible” for the attack, indicating his accomplices may still be at large. They asked for the public’s help in tracking down other suspects.
FBI investigates deadly New Orleans attack as ‘terrorism’To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Biden says US ‘will not tolerate’ attacks US President Joe Biden called the New Orleans mayor to offer “full federal support” after the attack, which the White House called “horrific.”
“There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities,” Biden said in a statement.
New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said the suspect had shot at police officers with a firearm from his vehicle, a pick-up truck, wounding two of them.
“Two of our officers have been shot. They are stable, and we will give you an update on them,” she said.
She said “we do not want anyone on Bourbon Street today.”
Kirkpatrick also said the FBI would be taking over the investigation “because of the nature and indices that we have on the scene.”
While “improvised explosive devices” had been found on the scene, investigators were still trying to establish if they were “viable,” according to FBI Special Agent Althea Duncan.
The attack took place on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New OrleansImage: ABC AFFILIATE WGNO via REUTERS President-elect Donald Trump connected the New Orleans attack to illegal immigration.
“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in the country… it turned out to be true,” Trump posted on social media, adding that crime in the US is “at a level that nobody has even seen before.”
The attack took place early on January 1, with revelers still on the streetsImage: MATTHEW HINTON/AFP The FBI data indicates that violent crime is in fact sharply down across the US.
Attack in vibrant heart of French Quarter The incident took place on Bourbon Street at around 3:15 a.m. local time This is a popular tourist and social hotspot in the French Quarter of the city of roughly 360,000 people in the southern state of Louisiana.
10 killed in New Orleans car-ramming attackTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry decried the “horrific act of violence” and invited others to join him and his wife in prayers for those affected. Like police, he asked all in the vicinity to avoid the area.
The New Orleans ramming is the latest attack in which a car was used as a weapon. Shortly before Christmas, an a Saudi-born psychiatrist used a car to kill five people and injure more than 200 at Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, drawing international attention.
msh, ftm/dj(AFP, AP, Reuters)
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