New Orleans truck attack: Biden says suspect expressed ‘desire to kill’ – latest updates

Two more victims of the New Orleans vehicle attack have been identified by their former high schools.

21 year old Hubert Gauthreaux graduated from Archbishop Shaw High School in 2021. A spokesperson for the school said he “was tragically killed in the senseless act of violence that occurred early this morning in the French Quarter”:

We are asking the entire Archbishop Shaw family to pray for the repose of Hubert’s soul, his family and friends during this difficult time, and all those affected by this tragedy.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.

May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Kareem Badawi, who graduated from Episcopal School of Baton Rouge in 2024, died from his injuries in the attack, the school said in a statement, as reported by WDSU News. Another student, Parker Vidrine, was critically injured and hospitalized. The statement said:

It is with a profound sense of sorrow and grief that we share difficult news involving members of our Episcopal family. Earlier today, we learned of a horrific attack in New Orleans that has tragically impacted our school community. Because of the sensitive nature and out of respect for the families, there is only so much that is appropriate to share at this time.

We are deeply saddened to share that alumnus Parker Vidrine ’24 was critically injured and is hospitalized, and alumnus Kareem Badawi ’24 tragically passed away as a result of the attack.

Local media in New Orleans have identified the first known victims of the New Year’s Day attack, including an 18-year-old aspiring nurse, a 37-year-old father of two and a 27-year-old former football player.

A fast-moving vehicle ploughed into the crowds of revelers celebrating the first hours of 2025 early on Wednesday morning, killing at least 15 people. Details of those killed are beginning to emerge in local media:

Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux, 18, traveled to New Orleans from nearby Gulfport, Mississippi, with a cousin and a friend. Reggie Hunter, a 37-year-old father of two from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Tiger Bech, a 27-year-old Lafayette, Louisiana, native and former football player. A fourth victim was named as Nicole Perez, a 28-year-old mother and delicatessen manager from Metairie, Louisiana, who was celebrating the new year with friends.

Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux graduated from Harrison Central high school in Gulfport in 2024 and was due to start a nursing program at Blue Cliff College later this month.

Her mother Melissa Dedeaux told Nola.com: “She was the sweetest person. She would give you anything, anything.” She said her daughter had apparently been hit by the speeding truck after running at the sound of gunfire.

After finishing work on New Year’s Eve, Hunter decided to head to Bourbon Street “on a whim” to celebrate the new year with a cousin, Shirell Jackson, his family told Nola.com.

According to the outlet, Bech was hit by the suspect’s truck, said Kim Broussard, the athletic director at St Thomas More Catholic high school, where he played football before going on to play for Princeton University.

You can read more here:

19-year-olds Elle Eisele and Steele Idelson are among dozens injured in the New Orleans truck attack on Wednesday, congressman Bryon Donalds said in a statement posted to Facebook.

“Two members of our Southwest Florida community were injured during this morning’s terrorist attack in New Orleans,” the representative for Florida’s 19th congressional district said.

Both Elle Eisele and Steele Idelson are 2023 graduates of the Canterbury School in Fort Myers.

Erika and I pray for the health, strength, and speedy recovery of Elle, Steele, and the thirty-three other injured victims of this evil.

Donalds also shared a statement from The Canterbury School on behalf of the girls’ families:

The Eisele and Idelson families are deeply grateful for the outpouring of thoughts, prayers, and offers of support for our daughters following the tragic attack in New Orleans.

International condolences and condemnation poured in following the New Orleans vehicle attack which killed at least 15 people in the city’s French Quarter. Here is Agence France-Presse’s round-up of global reactions:

French president Emmanuel Macron posted on X:

New Orleans, so dear to the hearts of the French, has been struck by terrorism. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and the injured, as well as with the American people, whose sorrow we share.

Christian Estrosi, mayor of Nice in the south of France – which suffered a car-ramming attack in 2016 that killed 86 people – also posted on X:

The tragedy in New Orleans, a sister city of Nice, very painfully recalls our own … Our thoughts go out to the families and the lives mowed down in mid-New Year’s celebrations.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X:

Horrified by the attack in New Orleans, US, which has claimed innocent lives and left many injured.

We trust that those responsible for this terrible act will be brought to justice. Violence, terrorism, and any threats to human life have no place in our world and must not be tolerated.

Kaja Kallas, European Union’s top diplomat, posted on X:

I am deeply saddened by the deliberate attack on those celebrating New Year’s in New Orleans. There is no excuse for such violence.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz posted on X:

This is terrible news from New Orleans. People celebrating happily are torn from their lives or injured by senseless hatred. We grieve with the families and friends of the victims and wish all those injured a quick recovery.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar posted on X:

Deeply saddened by the terrorist attack in New Orleans. My heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the victims. Wishing a swift recovery to the two injured Israeli citizens and all the wounded… Terror has no place in our world.

Turkey’s foreign ministry said in a statement:

We are deeply saddened by the attack that took place in New Orleans, USA. We extend our condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives … We hope that the motive for the attack will be revealed as soon as possible and that those who might be responsible will be held accountable before justice.

And Saudi Arabia “condemns and denounces” the attack, its foreign ministry said in a statement on X.

‘We’re living in a world where you don’t know where you’re safe’: New Orleans team coaches devastated by vehicle attack

New Orleans Pelicans head coach Willie Green said the NBA team was “devastated” by the truck attack that killed at least 15 people on New Years Day, Agence France-Presse report.

Green spoke to reporters in Miami before the Pelicans faced the Heat on Wednesday night:

Obviously, our hearts and our prayers, our thoughts go out to all the families that are impacted by, to be honest with you, a senseless act of violence.

We discussed it a bit with our players, but we’re just living in times and in a world where you don’t know where you’re safe.

Schools, churches, people should be able to go out and have a good time and walk the streets and it’s devastating.

I can only imagine what those families are going through and what they have to deal with now for the rest of their lives.

Darren Rizzi, NFL New Orleans Saints’ interim head coach, told reporters it was a solemn day.

What is New Orleans’ French Quarter, location of the vehicle attack?

The New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans targeted one of the city’s most famous districts – the six-by-13-block French Quarter. Located on the banks of the Mississippi River, it attracts millions of visitors each year as a hub for music, culture and raucous nightlife.

The vehicle attack took place on Bourbon Street, an area famed for its bars and music venues, in a city where locals say jazz was first invented by freed enslaved people in the 19th century.

The street – named for the former French royal family – is the main artery feeding the city’s tourist nightlife, with people often carrying their drinks in “go-cups” as they walk down the promenade. Footage posted on social media, purportedly of the moments before the attack, appeared to show just that – New Year’s night revellers bopping to music and spilling out of nearby bars as police officers ran past them to respond to an unseen commotion.

You can read more about the location of the New Year’s Day truck attack here:

Liz Murrill, Louisiana attorney general, believes the community is safe following the New Orleans vehicle attack.

Asked if there is any further threat in an interview with NBC News a short while ago, Murrill said:

No, I believe that the community is safe, and there certainly are a lot of law enforcement, there is a huge law enforcement presence here in New Orleans.

I believe that everyone is safe.

Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill thinks the Sugar Bowl should be delayed at least another day, she said in an interview with NBC News.

Murrill said not all bodies have been removed from the scene:

Not my decision, but I would like to see it delayed at least another day. If they ask my opinion, I would tell them that.

I think it was a wise decision to delay it at least a day. This is an active crime scene, and they just finished removing some of the bodies and they still haven’t removed all of them. I still think that we probably need to wait an extra day.

The football game was originally scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, but was postponed for 24 hours in the wake of the New Year’s Day vehicle attack.

Two Mexican nationals injured but in stable condition

The Mexico foreign affairs ministry said US officials confirmed two Mexican nationals were injured in the New Orleans attack that killed at least 15, but are in stable condition, the New York Times reports.

Summary

Joe Biden: Suspect expressed ‘desire to kill’ on social media

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who has been identified as the suspect in the New Orleans attack that killed at least 15 people, was having financial difficulties in recent years, according to a divorce records review by the Associated Press.

The documents suggested that Jabbar was $27,000 behind on house payments and that he was trying to quickly finalize his divorce, the AP reported. In a January 2022 email to the attorney of his ex-wife, he wrote: “I have exhausted all means of bringing the loan current other than a loan modification, leaving us no alternative but to sell the house or allow it to go into foreclosure.”

He also had struggling businesses. Blue Meadow Properties LLC, that lost roughly $28,000 over the previous year, and two others he started – Jabbar Real Estate Holdings LLC and BDQ L3C – had no value, according to the AP.

His divorce was finalized in September 2024.

The FBI said Jabbar shot at police before officers shot him dead after his vehicle attack into a crowd on New Year’s Day.

The New Orleans attack, which officials are investigating as an act of terrorism, appears to be the deadliest mass attack in the US in more than a year, according to the New York Times.

Officials say at least 15 people were killed and more than 30 injured after a vehicle flying an Islamic State (IS) flag drove into a crowd in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

In October 2023, a 40-year-old gunman in Maine killed 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar. That shooter died by suicide and was later found to have evidence of traumatic brain injuries.

More details are emerging about the suspect in the New Orleans attack.

An army spokesperson said Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, served in both an active duty and reserve capacity. He joined the army in 2006, and was deployed in 2009 to Afghanistan, where he worked as an administrative clerk.

In 2015 he joined the army reserve, and was honorably discharged as a staff sergeant in July 2020. He also worked in information technology.

He was charged with two minor infractions, for a misdemeanor theft offense in 2002, and driving with an invalid license in 2005. On Wednesday, the FBI released an undated, low resolution mugshot of Jabbar. It is not known if it is related to either of these two charges.

CNN reported on Wednesday that investigators are looking at a series of video recordings that Jabbar reportedly made prior to Wednesday’s attack, in which he was killed in a shootout with police.

The network said the recordings appeared to have been made while driving at night, and although the suspect is not visible, authorities believe the recordings were made as he drove from Texas to Louisiana, although the exact timing is not yet clear.

According to CNN, the recordings reference his divorce and how he had at first planned to gather his family for a “celebration” with the intention of killing them, two officials who had been briefed on the material in the recordings said.

The suspect also talked about how he changed his plans and said that he joined the Islamic State. According to the FBI, an IS flag was attached to the vehicle he used in the attack.

Here are some images from New Orleans, Louisiana, and Houston, Texas, in the aftermath of the New Year’s Day vehicle attack, sent to us over the news wires:

CNN is reporting that authorities appear to be backtracking from earlier, albeit unofficial assertions that three men and one woman were reportedly captured on surveillance video placing improvised explosive devices in New Orleans.

Law enforcement sources told the network earlier on Wednesday that investigators had reviewed footage purportedly showing the four individuals they believed at the time were involved in placing devices in the French Quarter.

The Associated Press also reported it had obtained an intelligence bulletin from Louisiana state police making the same claim.

However, while federal investigators are still trying to determine if other people were involved in assisting the suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, plan or execute the New Year’s Day attack, they no longer believe the people reportedly seen in the video were involved, CNN said.

New Orleans attack death toll rises to 15

College football officials have posted official confirmation that the Allstate Sugar Bowl, which this year doubles as the national championship quarter-final between Notre Dame and the University of Georgia, will kick-off at 3pm CT at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

The game was originally scheduled to have taken place on Wednesday afternoon, but was postponed for 24 hours in the wake of the New Year’s Day vehicle attack in the city’s French Quarter that killed at least 10 people and injured dozens more.

The Associated Press has been looking into why an anti-terrorism security system designed to temporarily prevent vehicles driving through New Orleans’s French Quarter was not in operation at the time of this morning’s attack.

It found that many of the adjustable barriers at intersections in the Quarter, stainless-steel columns known as bollards, were absent because they were in the process of being replaced during a rolling maintenance program that began in November and was scheduled to be completed before the Super Bowl in the city on 9 February.

Instead, in busy times for pedestrians such as the New Year’s Day celebrations, police cruisers were positioned at entrances to the Quarter. Surveillance footage posted to X on Wednesday showed what is believed to be the suspect’s pickup truck driving past one of the police vehicles and accelerating along Bourbon Street before plowing into the crowd.

City officials have not confirmed whether the intersection at which the suspect entered the Quarter was actively under construction, or if the replacement project created a vulnerability, the AP said.