New Orleans: local authorities say they believe ‘multiple people are involved’ in attack – latest updates

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Local authorities say they believe ‘multiple people are involved’ in attack

Local authorities believe that Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who died at the scene, may not have been alone in orchestrating the early morning assault in New Orleans, reports the PA news agency.

Louisiana attorney general, Liz Murrill, told NBC News that she can say “with some certainty that there are multiple people who are involved”.

As per CNN, Murrill also told the press that the collection of improvised explosive devices, which were discovered shortly after the Bourbon Street attacker was apprehended, appear to have been made in a New Orleans home.

A house fire occurred on Wednesday morning “that was connected to this event where we believe the IEDs were being made,” Murrill said. The premises, a short-term Airbnb rental, was likely leased by those involved, reports the PA news agency.

Authorities had already confirmed that it is suspected the New Orleans attacker may not be “solely responsible” for the attack, according to CNN.

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Heightened security and police presence at Trump Tower and Times Square, NY mayor says

New York has heightened security and increased police presence at locations, including Trump Tower and Times Square, its mayor said.

New York mayor, Eric Adams, posted the news on X this morning. He wrote:

After the attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas,@NYPDPC and I have been in constant communication. While there are no immediate threats to our city at this time, out of an abundance of caution, we have heightened security and have increased NYPD presence at relevant locations, including at Trump Tower and in Times Square.”

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Reuters news agency has shared another image of the New Orleans attack suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar.

The image was reportedly found on a US military Facebook. Reuters says the photograph, which shows a man matching images of Jabbar released by the FBI, was posted on the page of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.

Reuters report having found another image of Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a suspect in the New Orleans attack, on social media. Photograph: 1ST BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM, 82ND AIRBORNE DIVISION/Reuters
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New Orleans truck attack: what happened?

Ramon Antonio Vargas

The attacker, identified as 42-year-old Shimsud-Din Jabbar of Houston, Texas, managed to drive a rented white pickup truck between the 100 and 400 blocks of Bourbon Street in the lower part of the French Quarter, which was packed with people celebrating New Year’s Eve.

He was also firing a rifle from the truck while wearing body armor as well as a helmet, according to a law enforcement bulletin, and was flying the flag of the Islamic state (Isis) group mounted on a pipe erected in the bed of the vehicle. He exchanged gun fire with several police officers – wounding two of them – and was shot dead by the officers.

About 30 minutes after Jabbar was shot dead, investigators found a pipe bomb with nails and suspected C4 explosives inside an ice chest left near police patrol cars at the corner of Bourbon and Orleans streets, roughly three blocks from where the attack ended.

Police tape marks the area on Canal Street and Bourbon Street where a man drove a truck into a crowd at the edge of the French Quarter, New Orleans, on New Year’s Day. Photograph: Bonnie Cash/UPI/REX/Shutterstock

The bulletin said surveillance camera footage showed three men and a woman planted that device. But CNN later reported that investigators have since ruled out those people as having anything to do with planting the devices.

A second such device was found about a block away from where the first one had been found. Investigators spotted a third such possible device in a purple suitcase near the corner of North Rampart Street and Esplanade Avenue, toward the upper edge of the French Quarter.

Two of those devices had been confirmed as pipe bombs concealed within coolers and were wired for remote detonation, the bulletin said. Investigators discovered a corresponding remote in Jabbar’s truck, which also had mason jars containing a clear liquid consistent with explosives in his truck.

Officers determined a fourth possible device was not explosive.

Investigators learned Jabbar was staying at a short-term rental in New Orleans’ St Roch neighbourhood, about two miles from the French Quarter. They arrived to find the place had been intentionally set on fire, and – after firefighters brought the blaze under control – discovered bomb-making materials in the home.

The Houston news station KPRC2 reported capturing drone video showing a man at a home connected to Jabbar there surrendering to authorities. Earlier, the FBI said agents in Houston were “conducting law enforcement activity” at an area in the north part of the city in connection with the attack in New Orleans.

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My colleague, Oliver Laughland, has been reporting from New Orleans and has written this piece on residents and tourists recalling scrambling for cover as unimaginable scenes unfolded in the French Quarter yesterday:

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A University of Alabama student, Kareem Badawi, was among the 15 people killed in the New Orleans truck attack on New Year’s Day, the university’s president confirmed.

In a message on the university website posted yesterday, Stuart R. Bell wrote:

I learned today that Kareem Badawi, one of our students at the University of Alabama, was killed in the terrorist attack in New Orleans. I grieve alongside family and friends of Kareem in their heartbreaking loss.

Bell added that the univeristy’s staff had been “actively engaged in supportive outreach”. He signed off:

Please take a moment to pray for those impacted by this tragedy.”

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Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the 42-year-old US citizen from Texas identified by the FBI as the New Orleans attacker, peviously pleaded guilty to two charges, including driving under the influence in 2015, reports CNN.

According to documents from a US district court in North Carolina obtained by CNN, Jabbar had driven under the influence of an impairing substance in November 2014 and recorded a blood alcohol level over the legal limit. CNN reports that documents also showed Jabbar was driving with “an open container of alcoholic beverage after he consumed alcohol”.

CNN reports that Jabbar was charged with a DWI (driving while intoxicated) level 5– the least severe level of the offence in North Carolina – and had his driving licence suspended, was placed on probation for 12 months, fined $200 and complied with 24 hours of community service. He was also ordered to have a substance abuse assessment and treatment, it reports.

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At least 15 people have been killed and 30 injured after 42-year-old US citizen Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a Ford pickup into a crowd of revelers on New Orleans’ famous Bourbon Street on New Year’s Day.

Witness Zion Parsons watched as the vehicle plowed into a close friend who died at the scene. “A truck hit the corner and comes barreling through throwing people like in a movie scene, throwing people into the air,” he said.

‘Bodies up and down the street’: New Orleans witnesses describe scene of truck attack – video

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The New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans targeted the French Quarter, one of the US city’s most famous districts. The area is visited by millions each year as a hub for music, culture and raucous nightlife.

Here is an explainer on what the New Orleans’ French Quarter is:

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Local authorities say they believe ‘multiple people are involved’ in attack

Local authorities believe that Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who died at the scene, may not have been alone in orchestrating the early morning assault in New Orleans, reports the PA news agency.

Louisiana attorney general, Liz Murrill, told NBC News that she can say “with some certainty that there are multiple people who are involved”.

As per CNN, Murrill also told the press that the collection of improvised explosive devices, which were discovered shortly after the Bourbon Street attacker was apprehended, appear to have been made in a New Orleans home.

A house fire occurred on Wednesday morning “that was connected to this event where we believe the IEDs were being made,” Murrill said. The premises, a short-term Airbnb rental, was likely leased by those involved, reports the PA news agency.

Authorities had already confirmed that it is suspected the New Orleans attacker may not be “solely responsible” for the attack, according to CNN.

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UK prime minister joins other world leaders in condemning ‘shockingly violent’ attack in New Orleans

UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, has joined other world leaders in condemning the “shockingly violent” attack in New Orleans after US authorities said 15 people were killed and dozens more injured.

Starmer said his thoughts with were with the victims, their loved ones and the wider US after a vehicle drove into a crowd in the city in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

According to the PA news agency, the UK prime minister said:

The shockingly violent attack in New Orleans is horrific. My thoughts are with the victims, their families, the emergency responders and the people of the United States at this tragic time.”

Foreign secretary, David Lammy, said consular officials in the US were on hand to help any British nationals affected. “Our hearts go out to the people of New Orleans and to all those affected by this horrific attack,” he said.

He added:

The FBI are now investigating this as a terrorist incident – this is a fast-moving situation, and we continue to wait on further information.”

German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, described the attack as “senseless hatred” while French president, Emmanuel Macron, said:

New Orleans, so dear to the hearts of the French, has been struck by terrorism.”

Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, said he was “deeply saddened” by the “horrific attack” and Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said the country stood “in solidarity with the families of the victims and with the people of the United States”.

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Donald Trump criticises US authorities and law enforcement agencies

US president-elect Donald Trump has criticised US authorities and law enforcement agencies in a post today.

Although the message does not directly address the New Orleans attack, Trump wrote on his Truth Social network that the “The DOJ, FBI, and Democrat state and local prosecutors have not done their job”.

Trump criticised what he described as “weak, ineffective, and virtually nonexistent leadership” in reference to “open borders” and accused authorities of spending time attacking him rather than “focusing on protecting Americans from the outside and inside”.

He wrote:

Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen to our Country. The CIA must get involved, NOW, before it is too late. The USA is breaking down – A violent erosion of Safety, National Security, and Democracy is taking place all across our Nation.

Only strength and powerful leadership will stop it. See you on January 20th. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

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China said on Thursday it was “shocked” by the attack in the southern US city of New Orleans that killed at least 15 people and injured dozens.

“We mourn the victims, and express our sympathy to their families and those injured,” foreign affairs spokesperson, Mao Ning, told a regular press conference.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Mao told journalists:

We are shocked by this violent attack … China always opposes any violent and terrorist acts targeting civilians.”

She added that Beijing had not received any reports of Chinese casualties from the country’s embassy in the US.

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US president Joe Biden said that law enforcement agencies were probing any possible links between the attack and the explosion later on Wednesday of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a hotel owned by US president-elect Donald Trump in Las Vegas that killed one person, though he cautioned that none had been found so far.

Biden said that “thus far, there’s nothing” linking the New Orleans attack with the Las Vegas explosion, which police described as an “isolated” incident.

The vehicles in the two attacks were both rented through the popular car-sharing app Turo. The sheriff in Las Vegas said that was a “coincidence … that we have to continue to look in to.”

A spokesperson for the app, used by millions of people in the US, said they were working with law enforcement, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“We do not believe that either renter … had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat,” the spokesperson told AFP.

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Police said the attack began about 3.15am (09.15am GMT) near Bourbon Street in the heart of the French Quarter, packed with people celebrating the start of 2025.

The suspect drove a white Ford F-150 electric pickup into a group of pedestrians, then exited and was killed in a shootout with police – two of whom were injured. Two homemade bombs were found and neutralised, the FBI said.

“This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could,” Police Supt Anne Kirkpatrick told reporters. Driving at “very high speed” and in a “very intentional” manner, “he was hellbent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did,” Kirkpatrick said, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The Pentagon said the attacker, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, had served in the US army as a human resources specialist and an IT specialist from 2007 to 2015, and then in the army reserve until 2020. He deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 until January 2010, an army spokesperson said.

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A US army veteran with an Islamic State (IS) flag and “hellbent” on carnage steered a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year revelers in New Orleans on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens, officials said.

The FBI identified the attacker as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old US citizen from Texas. He appeared to have been a real estate agent working in Houston and had served as an IT specialist in the military, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Officials said they were searching for accomplices but gave few details.

FBI agents walk near a police car near the site where 15 people were killed by a man driving a truck in an attack during New Year’s celebrations, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters

Police Supt Anne Kirkpatrick described Jabbar as a “terrorist,” and the FBI said “an Isis flag was located in the vehicle,” using another name for the IS jihadist group.

US president Joe Biden, describing the attack as “despicable,” said Jabbar had posted videos online hours before “indicating that he was inspired by Isis.”

Biden also said that law enforcement agencies were probing any possible links between the attack and the explosion later on Wednesday of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a hotel owned by US president-elect Donald Trump in Las Vegas that killed one person, though he cautioned that none had been found so far.

Officials said a manhunt was under way, with FBI agent Alethea Duncan warning that authorities “do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible.”

Louisiana governor, Jeff Landry, said: “We’re hunting some bad people down.”

The FBI said it was conducting search warrants in New Orleans “and other states.” Earlier, the bureau’s field office in Houston said it was conducting activity “related” to the New Orleans attack.

An FBI spokesperson told AFP that 15 people had been killed in the attack, citing the New Orleans coroner’s office.

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