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The death toll for the early New Year’s morning attack is now 15.
An American citizen and US Army veteran drove his rented pickup truck into a crowded New Orleans street early Wednesday morning, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more in what the FBI is investigating as a terrorist attack.
Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, s 42-year-old Texan, was killed in a shootout with police after he got out of his truck on Bourbon Street and opened fire on police officers, as CrimeOnline previously reported. Two police officers were reportedly wounded.
A US official told The Associated Press that Jabbar had been an information technology specialist in the Army until 2015. Investigators said they don’t believe Jabbar acted alone. They say surveillance video shows three men and a woman placing homemade bombs in connection with the vehicle attack.
The FBI also said that an Islamic State flag was found in the truck, which had a Texas license plate and was rented via the app Turo, which connects drivers with vehicle owners.
“We are heartbroken to learn that one of our host’s vehicles was involved in this awful incident,” Steve Webb, the company’s vice president of communications, said in an email. “We are actively partnering with the FBI. We are not currently aware of anything in this guest’s background that would have identified him as a trust and safety threat to us at the time of the reservation.”
Police say Jabbar drove around a police car that was blocking traffic onto Bourbon Street an onto a sidewalk at about 3:15 a.m. Investigators are at his home in Houston.
Investigators also said that guns and explosives were found in the truck.
WVUE aired a video showing the pickup truck turning onto Bourbon Street at the start of the attack:
Video shows the moment the FBI says Shamsud Din Jabbar raced onto a packed Bourbon Street from Canal Street in a pickup truck with Texas plates and an ISIS flag. https://t.co/P0iWiTX30Z pic.twitter.com/hmeB1tUjpc
— FOX 8 New Orleans (@FOX8NOLA) January 1, 2025
The NCAA quarterfinal game between the University of Georgia and Notre Dame, scheduled for Wednesday night in the Sugar Bowl at the Superdome, was postponed until Thursday night in light of the atttack, WDSU reported.
Identifications of the victims are likely to take several days, the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office said, but family members have been releasing some identifications.
St. Thomas More Catholic High School said that Tiger Bech, 28, a former football and lacrosse standout, had died in the attack. Bech also played football at Princeton University.
Mississippi 18-year-old Nikyra Dedeaux was also confirmed killed, WDSU said.
The AP reported that Reggie Hunter, a 37-year-old father of two from Baton Rouge, was also killed.
