On Wednesday, a US citizen with an Islamic State flag slammed a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revellers in New Orleans. The incident killed 15 people and injured others. Shortly after, the police shot the man dead.
The 42-year-old man named Shamsud-Din Jabbar was a US citizen, the authorities identified. The FBI found an ISIS flag in the vehicle and is investigating the attack as an ‘act of terrorism.’
Police Findings
Local police said that the incident occurred around 3.15 am (0916 GMT) in the heart of the French Quarter. The place was packed with people celebrating the new year. The man was “driving at a very high speed” and “in a very intentional manner.” “He was hellbent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did,” Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told the reporters.
An AFP correspondent on the scene said that the vehicle used was a white Ford F-150 electric pick-up.
President Joe Biden called New Orleans’s Mayor LaToya Cantrell to offer full federal support following the horrific news, reported the White House. While President-elect Donald Trump was quick to link the attack to illegal immigration without having any evidence. Soon after, the authorities confirmed that the suspect was an American citizen.
The Horror Witnessed
New Orleans is one of the most heavily visited places in the United States. The incident happened before the Sugar Bowl, a major football game that attracted many people.
A white truck crashed through a barricade “at a very high rate of speed,” a witness, Jim Mowrer, told CBS News. “We were in the middle of the road and managed to run off the road onto the sidewalk and into the doorway of a building for cover. We did hear gunfire, and saw police running,” he added.
Law enforcement is also looking into whether the attack is linked to the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas the same day.
Stay tuned to Brandsynario for more news and updates.