New Year’s Eve in New Orleans turns into horror and tragedy

New Orleans was in full swing in the wee hours of the New Year.

Revelers spilled out of the bustling bars and packed clubs in the city’s French Quarter, an area often referred to as the heart of the city’s famous nightlife.

“There were young children on the street. A lot of 19, 20, 21-year-olds,” recalls Derrick Albert, a local DJ who plies his trade every night at the corner of Canal and Bourbon streets.

This intersection is home to a crowded tourist hotel, a shop selling ice cream and fudge, and restaurants selling oysters and daiquiris in large plastic glasses.

But at about 03:15 (09:15 GMT), the youthful revelry turned to terror when the man – identified as Shamsud-Deen Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texas resident and US Army veteran – drove a rented truck at high speed into the crowd.

He killed at least 15 people and injured dozens, some seriously.

Grainy CCTV footage shows the moment the attack began, with a white pickup driving down Canal Street past other cars before turning right onto Bourbon Street, swerving around a police car, accelerating and plowing into the crowd.

“We just heard this screeching sound, the engine revving and a huge, loud bang,” Kimberly Stricklen, a visitor to New Orleans, told Reuters. “Then, people, screams. The sound of crunching metal and bodies.”

The vehicle would travel another three blocks, hitting more passers-by along the way, until the driver crashed and came to rest near the corner of Bourbon and Conti streets.

Jabbar then left his vehicle and fired at police. He was killed by their fire in return.

“We heard gunshots and saw people running past the window,” said Steve Hyde, a British visitor who was at a bar called the Erin Rose on Conti Street, near Bourbon. “Then the sirens started… My heart is broken. I love this city.”

By 3:17 a.m. — just two minutes after the attack — officers from the New Orleans Police Department, already on New Year’s Eve, were on the scene and calling for emergency help, overwhelmed by chaotic radio chatter.

“I have at least six victims. I have an office that does chest compressions on one person. I’ve got another white male who has shortness of breath,” one officer can be heard talking about the gasping, irregular breathing common in emergency situations. “Many victims.”

Soon after, the area was filled with police, who cordoned off the entire area with crime scene tape and dozens of officers and vehicles as investigators arrived and emergency vehicles left.

For Mr. Albert, this incident was very serious.

Just a few weeks ago, he was issued a city ticket and told to move down the block from his usual location – which would be the same sidewalk the suspect was driving on to pass the police car.

“This is usually my corner,” he told the BBC, pointing to a Walgreens pharmacy at the edge of the crime scene.

“I would be killed. Yesterday I was more than lucky. He would run over me. This ticket saved my life. I would be the first one he hit.’

The FBI said a black Islamic State group flag was found inside the car that crashed into the partygoers, along with two suspected improvised explosive devices found nearby.

Investigators said they believe the driver of the car was not acting alone.

But on the streets of New Orleans, much of the debate focused on whether more could have been done to prevent the attack and keep people safe.

Barriers installed years ago to keep vehicles off Bourbon Street were in the process of being replaced, so there were gaps. There was a single police car.

“We had a car there. We had barriers there. There were officers there and they went around anyway,” New Orleans Police Superintendent Ann Kirkpatrick told reporters. “We did have a plan, but the terrorists defeated it.”

The apparent failure to properly secure the road has left some, such as Mr. Albert, embarrassed.

He believes that the number of people who gathered on New Year’s Eve, as well as the thousands of people in the city for the much-anticipated Sugar Bowl game, which was scheduled for January 1, justified the tighter security measures.

A 2017 memo seen by CBS, the BBC’s US partner, suggests that officials in New Orleans are aware of the risk of a mass-casualty attack using vehicles as weapons.

The document specifically mentions similar attacks that took place in France, Great Britain and New York.

“We all knew it could happen at some point. Maybe at Mardi Gras. Maybe at the Super Bowl,” Mr. Albert said. “Of course they could have stopped it … they’re going to get sued for it.”

Nearly 24 hours after the attack, the corner of Canal and Bourbon streets remained a high-crime area, with dozens of police cars blocking the road and police tape still in place.

But nearby, life – and partying – slowly began to return to the French Quarter.

Bars on the same block as the offense did brisk business, primarily for the legions of football fans in town for the postponed Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame.

Live jazz music played over curious onlookers who came to see the crime scene. Across the street, a Michael Jackson impersonator walked the sidewalk as the coroner’s car left the area.

Although the area is still reeling from the attack and loss of life, many like Mr Albert said they were confident the area would soon return to normal.

“Of course we will,” he said. “Of course we’ll bounce back.”