Police said the incident began around 3:15 am (0915 GMT) in the heart of the French Quarter, which was packed with people celebrating the start of 2025.
The suspect drove a white Ford F-150 electric pickup into a group of pedestrians, then exited and was killed in a shoutout with police — two of whom were wounded. Two homemade bombs were found and neutralized, the FBI said.
“This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could,” Kirkpatrick told reporters.
Driving at “very high speed” and in a “very intentional” manner, “he was hellbent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did,” Kirkpatrick said.
The wounded officers were in stable condition and Kirkpatrick said they would recover.
The Pentagon said Jabbar had served in the army as a human resources specialist and an IT specialist from 2007 to 2015, and then in the army reserve until 2020.
He deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 until January 2010, an army spokesperson said, adding that he held the rank of Staff Sergeant at the end of his service.
Biden said that law enforcement were also probing any possible links between the attack and the explosion later Wednesday of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a hotel partly owned by US President-elect Donald Trump in Las Vegas that killed one person.
“Thus far, there’s nothing to report on that score,” he said, as police in Las Vegas said they believed it was an “isolated” incident.
Trump immediately linked the New Orleans attack to illegal immigration, giving no evidence, in a statement made before authorities announced the suspect was American.
Horror in iconic neighborhood
