Terrorist Attack in New Orleans Claims 10 Lives and Leaves 30 Injured on New Year's Day
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New York, Jan 1 (NationPress) The New Year began with a terrorist determined to cause destruction driving his vehicle into a crowd of revelers in New Orleans, resulting in 10 fatalities and 35 injuries, according to officials.
City Mayor LaToya Cantrell labeled the early morning incident on the famous Bourbon Street as a "terrorist attack".
Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick remarked that the attacker was intent on causing the devastation he achieved, breaching barriers to execute the assault.
The assailant, whose identity remains unknown, crashed his white pickup truck into the gathering, exited the vehicle, and opened fire at police officers, who subsequently shot him dead, officials reported. Two officers sustained injuries.
Authorities discovered an improvised explosive device—a makeshift bomb—located nearby. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which has assumed control of the inquiry, is meticulously searching the vicinity to rule out the presence of additional explosives.
Several suspicious packages were reportedly detonated by law enforcement.
This attack occurred mere hours before the Sugar Bowl, an annual college football event that attracts substantial crowds and a significant television audience on New Year’s Day, prompting heightened concerns.
Bourbon Street is renowned as a prime location for large-scale New Year festivities and is famous for its annual Mardi Gras parade.
The incident unfolded in the waning days of President Joe Biden’s administration and just three weeks before President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office.
Biden has been updated on the situation by senior officials from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, as stated by the White House.
The President, currently in Wilmington and en route to Camp David for the weekend, will continue to receive updates. He reached out to Mayor Cantrell to offer comprehensive federal assistance.
As of 10 a.m. local time, Trump had not yet commented on the situation.
In other parts of the United States, New Year’s celebrations proceeded without incident.
During the New Year Ball Drop at Times Square in New York, hundreds of thousands of attendees, both locals and tourists, celebrated in unseasonably rainy weather, amidst heavy security measures.
The New Orleans attack comes just ten days after a Saudi national drove into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, resulting in five deaths and 200 injuries.
German officials expressed confusion over the attack, as the suspected assailant, a doctor, had previously made anti-Islamist statements and appeared to be suffering from mental health issues.
Vehicles have been utilized in a number of terrorist attacks.
In 2016, an Islamist terrorist drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, resulting in 13 fatalities, and in another incident linked to the Islamic State, 86 individuals were killed in Nice, France, when a man drove into a crowd.
A White Supremacist also perpetrated an attack during a civil rights protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, in the U.S., resulting in one death and 35 injuries the following year.
