New Orleans attack as it happened: Multiple fatalities after truck ploughs into New Orleans NYE crowd

We’re finishing our live coverage of the events in the United States.

To recap, here’s what we know:

• 15 people have died and dozens more are injured after a man “hell-bent on carnage” rammed his truck at high speed into a crowd in New Orleans’ French Quarter and then opened fire.
• the incident took place at about 3.15am on Wednesday (8.15pm AEDT) in a popular tourist area full of revellers ringing in the new year.
• it is being investigated by authorities as an act of terrorism after an Islamic State flag, weapons and a potential explosive device was found in the boot of the truck driven by 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar.
• President Joe Biden said authorities were examining whether there is any link between the New Orleans event and an incident in Las Vegas in which a Cybertruck burst into flames and exploded outside the entrance of a hotel owned by President-elect Donald Trump, killing one person and injuring several more.
• in both cases the car share app Turo was used to hire the vehicles and soft targets were chosen but authorities are yet to find any further links.

Thank you for following our coverage today.

Photographs of the Cybertruck that burst into flames and killed one person outside Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel show the extent of the explosion.

The incident was reported on Wednesday morning Las Vegas time after a Cybertruck billowing with smoke and fire pulled into the valet area of the 64-storey building.

Drone footage released by police of the Cybertruck involved in an incident outside Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas. Credit: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

North America correspondent Farrah Tomazin reports that firework mortars and gas canisters were found in the boot of the vehicle.

Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said all avenues were being explored in view of the New Orleans attack five hours earlier, in which a man rammed his truck at high speed into crowds celebrating New Year’s Eve in the city’s famous French Quarter.

“We’re very well aware of what has happened in New Orleans with the event that occurred there,” McMahill told reporters.

The trucks used in the deadly attack in New Orleans and the explosion at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday were rented through the same rental app, Turo, according to the company.

The owner of the Ford pickup truck used in New Orleans recognised his vehicle when he saw footage showing the truck and license plate on the news, The New York Times reported.

The truck’s owner, who did not want his name used, said that he had been renting five cars on Turo as a second income stream but that he did not plan to use the platform again after the attack.

In Las Vegas, the police said during a news conference that the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump Hotel’s lobby entrance, killing one and injuring at least seven others, was also rented from Turo. Officials called it a “coincidence” and said they were continuing to investigate any possible connections.

The company said in a statement that it was “actively partnering with law enforcement authorities as they investigate both incidents.”

“We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat,” the statement said. “We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards in risk management.”

A passport photo of Shamsud-Din Jabbar who drove into crowds in New Orleans killing at least 15.Credit: FBI handout via CNN

More information is emerging about the man authorities have named as the driver of the pick-up truck that ploughed into pedestrians in New Orleans.

Divorce records show that in January 2022, Shamsud-Din Jabbar was $27,000 behind on house payments, Associated Press reports.

“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 wrote in an email to his now ex-wife’s attorney.

His businesses were struggling, too. One, Blue Meadow Properties LLC, lost about $28,000 over the previous year. Two others he started, Jabbar Real Estate Holdings LLC and BDQ L3C, weren’t worth anything.

The divorce was approved in September 2024.

In Las Vegas, one person died after a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside President-elect Donald Trump’s hotel, killing one person and injuring several others.

CNN reports that authorities believe fireworks, gas tanks and camping fuel were connected to a detonation system controlled by the driver.

The FBI is investigating to determine whether if it was an act of terrorism.

The burnt shell of the Cybertruck involved in the incident. Credit: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said the truck, a rental, arrived in Las Vegas about 7.30am on the morning on the explosion.

McMahill said authorities believed it was an isolated incident and no further threat was posed to the community.

An Islamic State flag was retrieved from the truck used in the New Orleans attack and US President Joe Biden said the driver, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was inspired by the terrorist group.

Despite being based in some parts of Syria and Iraq, IS has a record of inspiring attacks in the United States, AP reports.

The truck driven by Shamsud-Din Jabbar in the deadly attack.

Other attacks over the past decade include a 2014 shooting rampage by a husband-and-wife team who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. There was also a 2016 massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, by a gunman who fatally shot 49 people, pledged his allegiance on a 911 call to then-leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and raged against the “filthy ways of the West”.

This attack in New Orleans is one of the deadliest IS-inspired attacks in recent years.

An 18-year-old girl dreaming of becoming a nurse, a single mother, a father-of-two and a former Princeton football star suffered fatal injuries in the attack.

Nikyra Dedeaux, Reggie Hunter, Tiger Bech and Nicole Perez are among the 15 who were killed, AP reports.

New Orleans truck attack victims Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux (left), Reggie Hunter (centre) and Tiger Bech (right).

Zion Parsons of Gulfport, Mississippi, had been celebrating New Year’s Eve at his first night on Bourbon Street when the vehicle appeared and ploughed into his friend, Dedeaux, who he said had dreamed of becoming a nurse.

“A truck hit the corner and comes barrelling through throwing people like in a movie scene, throwing people into the air,” Parsons, 18, told The Associated Press.

“It hit her and flung her like at least 30 feet and I was just lucky to be alive.”

AP

As the people of New Orleans mourn the deaths of at least 15 people killed when Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove into New Year’s Eve crowds, President-elect Donald Trump has used the terrorist attack to spread anti-immigrant views.

Soon after the attack, Fox News published incorrect claims that the driver had recently arrived in the US from Mexico via the Texas border.

Trump then posted to his social media platform Truth Social with words appearing to echo those claims.

“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,” Trump said.

“The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before. 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!”

Jabbar was, in fact, a US citizen and army veteran from Texas.

Vision obtained by Nine News has shown the moment the vehicle driven by Shamsud-Din Jabbar speeds down Bourbon Street, narrowly missing pedestrians.

The CCTV shows revellers running to get out of Jabbar’s path of destruction.

The vehicle was a rental, the FBI said, and contained weapons, a potential explosive and an ISIS flag.

The man behind the New Orleans killings made videos of himself declaring his “desire to kill” and was inspired by ISIS, US President Joe Biden said.

In a press conference at Camp David, Biden said he had received a briefing from the FBI about Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s background.

Edward Bruski, right, hugs New Orleans police officer Zachary Stevenson at the scene.Credit: AP photo

“Mere hours before the attack he posted videos on social media [that] indicated he was inspired by ISIS, expressing desire to kill,” he said.

“New Orleans is a place unlike any other place in the world, a city full of charm and joy. So many people around the world love New Orleans because of its history, its culture and, above all, its people. So I know while this person committed a terrible assault on the city, the spirit of New Orleans will never, never, never be defeated.”

Biden said federal investigators were also looking into the possibility of connections between the attack and the Tesla Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas. No connections have been established as yet.