‘Hell-bent on carnage’: At least 15 dead as driver rams New Year’s revellers in New Orleans

Washington: Authorities are investigating possible links between a deadly New Orleans truck attack on New Year’s Eve and a Tesla Cybertruck that burst into flames outside the entrance of US President-elect Donald Trump’s hotel near the Las Vegas Strip.

At least 15 people were killed and more than 35 injured when a man “hell-bent on carnage” rammed his truck at high speed into a crowd in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter and then opened fire in what authorities are investigating as an act of terrorism.

The incident took place about 3.15am on Wednesday (8.15pm AEDT) near the area of Canal and Bourbon Streets. The popular tourist precinct was still filled with revellers ringing in the new year in one of America’s most bustling cities.

The driver was identified by the FBI as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a US citizen and military veteran from Texas, who had an Islamic State flag in his truck, along with weapons and a potential explosive device. The agency does not believe he was acting alone.

“An ISIS flag was located in the vehicle, and the FBI is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organisations,” the agency said in a statement.

“Weapons and a potential IED [improvised explosive device] were located in the subject’s vehicle. Other potential IEDs were also located in the French Quarter. The FBI’s special agent bomb technicians are working with our law enforcement partners to determine if any of these devices are viable, and they will work to render those devices safe.”

Jabbar went around barricades to get into Bourbon Street and plough into the crowd, occasionally veering onto sidewalks at high speed. After running over multiple people, he crashed his truck and died in a shootout with police. Two officers were injured in the process and are in hospital.

“This man was trying to run over as many people as he could,” Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said at a press conference soon after the incident. “He was hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.”

President Joe Biden said he was briefed by the FBI, which is in charge of the investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Speaking at Camp David, he said Jabbar’s social media suggested he was inspired by ISIS and “a desire to kill”. But, he said, the investigation was fluid “and no one should jump to conclusions”.

Biden said federal authorities were investigating “any possible connection” between the New Orleans incident and the explosion of the Tesla Cybertruck in Las Vegas, which occurred just hours later, killing the driver and injuring seven other.

The Cybertruck exploded outside Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas.Credit: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

FBI special agent in charge Jeremy Schwartz told reporters that it was not yet clear whether the blast was an act of terrorism.

“I know everybody’s interested in that word, and trying to see if we can say, ‘Hey, this is a terrorist attack’. That is our goal, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Schwartz said.

The New Orleans attack shocked Americans as they woke up to the first day of 2025, while witnesses have given harrowing accounts of the dead bodies they saw in the immediate aftermath.

One witness, identified only as Paul, told NBC News: “There’s litter all over the sidewalks, and then there were bodies laid up next to garbage cans and people rushing to give aid.”

Another witness, Jimmy Cothran, told US ABC News that he and his group ducked into a Bourbon Street nightclub when the commotion began. He later witnessed “body after body mangled just as far as you could see”.

“One gentleman crushed had tyre tracks across his back once they rolled him over, he had tyre tracks on his front. He was completely crushed,” he later said.

Bourbon Street is a historic tourist destination in the city’s French Quarter, known for attracting large crowds with its music, restaurants, clubs and “alcohol to-go” policy, which allows visitors to buy drinks from bars and roam the streets carrying them.

The city hosts the famous Mardi Gras celebration and the annual jazz festival. It has dozens of hotels that are generally filled with tourists during the US holiday season.

Many hotels in the area had to be evacuated, according to Jason Williams, the district attorney for the city-parish, leaving some tourists displaced.

As authorities continued to investigate the driver’s motives, Trump issued a statement on Wednesday morning to attack Democrats and the media.

“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true. The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick speaks after the attack.Credit: nna\KCampbell

“Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!”

Trump’s statement came minutes after Fox News reported unnamed sources saying the driver’s truck had a licence plate from the neighbouring state of Texas, and that the vehicle had come through the US-Mexico border town of Eagle Pass in November.

It does not appear that the same driver was in the vehicle at that time.

The incident comes two weeks after four women and a nine-year-old boy were killed, and 200 people were injured, when a man drove into a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg.

It also took place hours before thousands were expected in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl college football quarter-final at the nearby Caesars Superdome. The game, originally scheduled for Wednesday night at the 70,000-seat venue, has been pushed back 24 hours to Thursday.

The New Orleans superintendent of police said the city was working to ensure the area was safe. Heightened security will also be a priority when the city hosts next month’s Superbowl.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said he had issued an emergency declaration to allow federal and state partners to bring in necessary resources, and had ordered mobilisation of military police to assist.

Emergency services attend the scene on Bourbon Street.Credit: AP

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.