The Current - What we know about the deadly attack in New Orleans

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

At least 15 people are dead and dozens injured after a man drove a truck into a crowd celebrating the new year in New Orleans. The Washington Post’s Ben Brasch shares what we know about the attack, which the FBI are investigating as an act of terrorism.

In 2017, it felt like drugs were everywhere in the news, so I started a podcast called On Drugs. We covered a lot of ground over two seasons, but there are still so many more stories to tell. I'm Jeff Turner, and I'm back with Season 3 of On Drugs. And this time, it's going to get personal. I don't know who Sober Jeff is. I don't even know if I like that guy.

On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current Podcast. Kimberly Strickland was visiting New Orleans from her home in Alabama to ring in 2025. She was out on historic Bourbon Street celebrating in the early hours yesterday when she saw a pickup truck drive at high speed into the crowd. The guy in the pickup truck just punched the gas

and mowed over the barricade, and there were just bodies and the screams. I mean, you can't think about, you know, unhear that. It was chaos and very, very scary. Fifteen people are dead and dozens injured after the man rammed the truck into the crowd. The police killed the driver in a shootout. The FBI are now investigating the attack as an act of terrorism. Ben Brash is a reporter for The Washington Post, and he's been

covering the attack closely. Ben, good morning. Hello, thanks for having me. What do we know about who the driver was? Yeah, so the driver is a 42-year-old man, Mr. Jabbar. He's an American citizen and a U.S. Army vet who was born in Texas. That's all we know so far. We're trying to piece together still. So it appears that he was, now the influence is unclear, but he was radicalized at some point. And that's evident because there are videos talking about his entrance into an ideology of espousing ISIS language. And there was an Islamic State flag found on the vehicle.

Do we know more about that radicalization, about his motive? I know the FBI is investigating it as a terrorist attack. That's right. The FBI is investigating this as a terrorist attack. We don't have a ton more details. This all just unfolded yesterday, of course, but we are looking into that quite heavily. Do we know any more about the direction of the FBI's investigation? So this is different from other attacks because usually there are initial rumors that the individual had help and those get squashed pretty quickly. But indeed here the FBI is looking into the possibility that others were involved. There is video that law enforcement officials have told us exists showing a few people, a few men and one woman, placing coolers out in the French Quarter where this occurred. where this occurred. And later on, officials found coolers with improvised explosive devices, IEDs in them, along with nails inside the coolers to inflict mass damage.

How many coolers? Were the FBI specific? They were specific, and then the number was a bit squishy, but we're talking a few, not dozens. What do we know about the victims? So that information also is coming in piecemeal. The Post has identified some of the deceased by name. One of them was a 27-year-old mother, Ms. Nicole Perez, who worked at a deli in Metairie just outside New Orleans. And her employer told us that she was just a really, really great woman who was getting her life together, just got her apartment. She would walk away, pause her responsibilities when she was on break, and read to her son in the storage room to try and teach him math and English.

Another individual we've identified is Tiger Beck. And Mr. Beck had just recently graduated from Princeton where he was a kick returner and he was heading into the finance world. And his mother described him, obviously, as a great young man. And his mother described him, obviously, as a great young man. As far as the injured, the Israeli foreign ministry said two Israeli citizens were among the injured. They were at a hospital. And the president of the University of Georgia, who's playing in the big game, the Sugar Bowl, that's taking part in town today, was critically injured.

I understand that Sugar Bowl, the college football playoff match, has been rescheduled from yesterday to today. How do we know, or what have authorities said about the safety precautions that are in place to keep people safe? Right, yes, this is the last of the quarterfinal. This is a new playoff system for college football. As for security, the governor, Jeff Landry, has guaranteed people that it will be a safe game. It's been on essentially lockdown. And by that, I mean there are bomb dogs and all sorts of security. There's, I believe, 100 military police personnel who have come down to further secure the building. And so reporters asked Governor Landry yesterday, okay, what makes you feel safe, certain that it's going to be a safe game? And he said, well, I'm going to be

there. And so there you go. As in he feels safe enough to be there? Yes, personally attending. That's right. There was another incident in Las Vegas yesterday. A rented Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump Hotel. What do we know about that? And are there any links to this attack in New Orleans? The links on that are less clear. But yes, there is a Cybertruck that exploded outside Trump Hotel. I believe one person died in that explosion. It kind of, you know, onlookers say that they saw a smoke come out and then the explosion hit. Have investigators, authorities, have they said there's a link between the two?

They have not linked the two, but my understanding is that some law enforcement officials have said that it is being investigated as a possible terrorist attack. A motive or linkage had not been made, although obviously what a coincidence it would be. But again, authorities do not know. Tell us what politicians are saying. What kind of response are we hearing to this attack? Right. So, you know, at the federal level, obviously an outpouring of sadness. You know, New Orleans is a place built on love and revelry. And so for this to happen on such a, you know, what was supposed to be a fun day is tragic. At the local level, authorities are praising their law enforcement for acting quickly. There were three police officers who exchanged gunfire with the suspect,

and two of them were injured by gunfire and are, you know, expected to be okay. Officials are also saying, you know, we need to look at our physical infrastructure in the French Quarter to avoid this happening again, because it is the economic engine of New Orleans and Louisiana, that stretch of Bourbon Street. Okay, I'm sure we'll learn more today as the hours unfold. Ben Brash, thank you so much for this. Thank you, Rebecca. Ben Brash is a reporter with The Washington Post, and he is in Washington, D.C. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.