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Deadly battering ram on New Year’s revelers in New Orleans this, unfortunately, is not the only time suspected terrorists have used trucks to kill.
The bloodshed on Bourbon Street came just weeks after a A doctor born in Saudi Arabia is believed to have rammed a car into a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany on Dec. 20, killing five people, including a 9-year-old boy. More than 200 people were injured. In recent years, there have been other incidents of car crashes during crowded events in Nice, France; Waukesha, Wisconsin; and New York, as one former Trump Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official warns of “soft target” vulnerabilities.
“Vehicle rams or vehicle-as-weapon attacks are very effective. With this attack following the deadly events at a Christmas market in Germany, we all need to be careful when attending and enjoying public events,” Brian Harrell. , a former DHS assistant secretary in the first Trump administration, told Fox News Digital. “Soft targets and crowded places will always be desirable for terrorists, given the potential loss of life.”
“In the first Trump administration, we recognized that the car as a weapon is a real threat that needs to be mitigated,” Harrell added. “The problem with securing public places or ‘soft targets’ is that the open nature of these places makes them vulnerable to attack. Criminals target places where people of all backgrounds should be able to gather safely, freely and without fear. This kind of violence has no place in our society.”
The FBI is investigating a “terrorist attack” on Wednesday and the White House was notified after authorities said a suspect rammed a truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing at least 10 and injuring dozens of others. A high-level source at the New Orleans Police Department confirmed to Fox News Digital that the suspect was Shamsood Dean Jabbar. He was killed after opening fire on the police.
Jabbar was carrying a Glock and a .308 rifle equipped with optics and a silencer that were reported stolen in New Jersey, the source said. The source added that there are at least four to five other suspects.
Two officers were shot. A source confirmed to Fox News Digital that law enforcement found explosive devices on Bourbon Street that appeared to be viable.
TEN DEAD, DOZENS INJURED AFTER DRIVER PRASES INTO CROWD ON BOURBON STREET, SUSPECT DEAD
An eight-block perimeter around Bourbon Street remains closed while the investigation continues.
A front desk worker at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel told Fox News Digital that she was on her way to work around 6 a.m. but had to walk a long distance through police barricades. Although she couldn’t see much, she heard what sounded like at least two soft ‘pops’, suspecting that something had exploded.
Law enforcement officers on Bourbon Street on January 1, 2025. in New Orleans. (Michael DeMocker/Getty Images)
Fox News has learned that the vehicle used in the attack crossed the US-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas, in November. However, the alleged Bourbon Street attacker was not behind the wheel, meaning the vehicle changed hands at some point.
The Sugar Bowl is expected to start the College Football Playoff quarterfinal game between Georgia and Notre Dame, as expected in New Orleans on Wednesday night, but the dome was closed for security checks.
Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies work at the scene on Bourbon Street after at least 10 people were killed when a man allegedly drove into a crowd early in the morning on New Year’s Day, January 1, 2025. (Michael DeMocker/Getty Images)
With Louisiana’s popular tourist destination still reeling from one car attack, here’s a look at others in recent years.
Germany’s interior minister warned on Monday that it was too early to suspect terrorist acts in an incident at a Christmas market on December 20.
The suspect was identified as a 50-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia who came to Germany in 2006 and was granted refugee status 10 years later. This is reported by DW.
Although world famous New Year’s Eve in Times Square This year the ball dropped without a hitch, with the 2017 car ramming in New York City remaining the deadliest terrorist attack in the Big Apple since 9/11.
Police vans and ambulances at the annual Christmas market in the city center following a possible terror attack on December 20, 2024. in Magdeburg, Germany. (Craig Stennett/Getty Images)
On Halloween in 2017. Saiful Saipovfrom Uzbekistan, used a 6,000-pound truck to run over more than 20 people on the Hudson River Bike Path in Lower Manhattan. He eventually boarded a school bus and jumped out of the truck, shouting “Allahu akbar,” which means “God is great” in Arabic, the New York Times reported. The officer shot the suspect in the abdomen. Prosecutors said he killed eight people and seriously injured many others, including a 14-year-old child.
In May 2023, a judge sentenced Saipov to eight life sentences and 260 years in prison for the ISIS-inspired attack. Those who survived suffered amputations, severe brain injuries, life-changing physical injuries and significant psychological trauma, prosecutors said.
Three years ago, Darrell Brooks Jr. drove his red Ford Escape through the Christmas parade in downtown Waukesha, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee, on November 21, 2021. The attack killed six people, including 8-year-old Jackson Sparks, who was marching with his baseball team. The other victims were identified as Tamara Durand, 52; Wilhelm Gospel, 81; Yane Kulich, 52; Leanna Owen, 71; and Virginia Sorenson, 79. The four were part of a group that called itself the Dancing Grannies. \
Another 62 were injured. The following November, Brooks was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on 76 counts, including six counts of first-degree murder and 61 counts of reckless endangerment.
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July 14, 2016 Mohammed Lahouayey-Boulelle – an alleged Islamic State supporter – drove a 19-tonne truck down the famous promenade in Nice, France, where thousands of people had gathered to watch Bastille Day fireworks. As a result of the terrorist attack, 86 people died, and another 450 were injured. Lahoi Boullel was killed by police, but in 2022 a French court found eight others guilty of helping to organize the massacre. They were sentenced to between two and 18 years. This is reported by NPR.
Fox News’ David Spant contributed to this report.
