New Orleans attack latest: Terror suspect used bomb materials never seen in US as police probe how he got them

After a suspect drove a rented Ford F-150 into a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing 14 and leaving dozens of others injured, the city of New Orleans is now installing street barriers — but they can only withstand 10-mph impacts, according to a report.

An engineering analysis, obtained by Reuters, found that a vehicle like the truck used in the attack could enter Bourbon Street at speeds ranging from 12 to 70 mph. But these new barriers — called “bollards” — cannot withstand impacts at those speeds, according to the outlet.

The bollards are set to be put in place on Bourbon Street in time for the Super Bowl, which New Orleans is hosting on February 9. But they were removed for repairs, allowing the suspect to reportedly drive onto the subject, hitting a crowd of innocent people.

Alexis Scott-Windham, 23, of Mobile, Alabama, was in the French Quarter the evening before the attack to celebrate New Year’s Eve with friends.

She was one of scores of people that attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, hit with a rented truck in the early hours of New Year’s Day, a massacre which ultimately killed 14 people.

Scott-Windham, after the truck clipped her, was then hit in the foot during gunfire between Jabbar and police that followed the vehicle attack

The 23-year-old looked around and saw a dead body next to her, and noticed her foot was “leaking” blood, she told NBC News.

As she waited for an ambulance, her friends called her mother, who advised putting a tourniquet around Scott-Windham’s ankle to choke off the blood flow.

The city of New Orleans is in shock. Bartenders, musicians and hospitality workers who keep the city running are grieving and nervous. French Quarter residents packed into the historic neighborhood are navigating life in an active crime scene.

A suspected terrorist attack has shaken a city that was primed to celebrate the new year with the weeks-long Carnival season leading up to Mardi Gras — with the Super Bowl crammed right in the middle of it — that’s scheduled to kick off within days. But first, thousands of people in town for the Sugar Bowl joined locals celebrating New Year’s Eve into the early morning hours Wednesday.

After jerking his truck around a barrier to race down a sidewalk and into a crowd in the street, Shamsud Din Jabbar finally crashed into construction equipment then opened fire with an AR-style rifle before he was fatally shot by police shortly after 3:15 a.m. Wednesday.

Alex Woodward has this in-depth look at the tragedy.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. Army veteran, has been named by authorities as the suspect. He carried an ISIS flag on the vehicle used to mow down pedestrians.

Addressing the nation following the attack, President Joe Biden said Jabbar posted videos to social media “indicating he was inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill.”

But how much of a threat does the extremist Islamist militant group pose to Americans today?

The FBI Houston office announced Saturday that it had seized the vehicle that Shamsud-Din Jabbar used to plow into a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing 14 and injuring dozens more.

“On Jan. 1, after obtaining a court authorized warrant, FBI Houston’s SWAT and Bomb Techs, w/support from @HCSOTexas, safely cleared the suspect’s north Harris County house of any potential threats to safety of nearby residents. FBI Houston’s ERT then began its search of the home,” the FBI wrote in a statement on X.

The agency “completed its thorough, hours-long search of the suspect’s house on Jan. 2, secured it, and released the property to the owner that morning. On Jan. 3, FBI Houston returned to the area only to seize a vehicle near the residence in furtherance of the ongoing investigation.”

Jabbar was a U.S. citizen from Texas, authorities have said.

Texas Lt. Gov. Gov. Dan Patrick told Fox 26 that the suspect rented the pickup truck on Monday and had been driving the rented vehicle in Houston before heading to New Orleans.

The king has been in touch with the family of Edward Pettifer, 31, who was killed by “blunt force injuries” when a pickup truck rammed into a crowd of New Year’s Eve revellers in Bourbon Street, Louisiana, killing at least 14 and injuring at least 35.

Mr Pettifer, who was named by Metropolitan Police on Saturday morning, is believed to be the stepson of Prince William and Prince Harry’s former nanny, Alexandra Pettifer, who was known as Tiggy.

The 31-year-old’s family described him as a “wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew and friend to so many”.

New Orleans officials are promising the city is safe as they prepare for the Super Bowl next month. But planning for that event might have allowed a suspected terrorist to rampage through the city’s most popular area.

Those “bollards” — installed as part of a years-long security plan for the tourist-heavy neighborhood — were intended to block that exact type of attack from happening.

But they were in the middle of being replaced in time for the city to host February’s Super Bowl LIX, which falls in the middle of a busy Carnival season calendar leading up to Mardi Gras day on March 4.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar created homemade explosives with a rare compound, according to NBC News.

This compound had never been seen before in a U.S. or European incident, the outlet reported.

Jabbar planned to detonate two explosives that he had placed on Bourbon Street, FBI and ATF officials said in a joint statement Friday.

He had intended to use a transmitter, which was found in his vehicle, to detonate the bombs but ultimately did not, officials said.

New Orleans officials have reopened Bourbon Street, now heavily guarded with military police, fresh barricades and 14 roses to mark the 14 people who were killed in what law enforcement officials have labeled an act of terror.

Authorities removed the remaining bodies and swept blood from the sidewalks and streets beginning at 2 a.m. Thursday. Deliveries to the street’s bars and restaurants resumed a few hours later.

Several blocks of Bourbon and surrounding streets had been blocked off, businesses were closed and residents living in the footprint of an active crime scene were navigating police tape and barricades after a driver plowed a pickup truck into a crowd shortly after 3 a.m. Wednesday.

Thousands of workers — still checking on the safety of friends and colleagues — are now returning to the bars, restaurants, music venues, hotels, gift shops and other businesses that keep the city’s tourism economy running.

One French Quarter worker told The Independent she was dreading returning to work.

“My anxiety is at an all-time high,” she said.

A New Year’s celebration in New Orleans was interrupted when a terrorist slammed into a crowd of revelers, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more.

The attack occurred around 3:15 a.m. on Bourbon Street when a suspect rammed into a crowd. More than 30 others were injured in the attack and have been transported to hospitals. Police warn the death toll could change as more information is received.

The FBI is investigating the incident “as an act of terrorism” and say it was carried out by 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar. Authorities say he had an ISIS flag on his truck as he plowed into the crowd, according to reports. Details about his life and background are starting to be revealed as investigators search for information about what led to the attack.

Kelly Rissman has the story.