By Jeff Mason
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday visited the site of a New Year’s Eve attack in New Orleans in which 14 people were killed and dozens injured when a U.S. Army veteran drove his truck into a crowd of revelers.
Biden and his wife, Jill, stopped on Bourbon Street to pay their respects to those who died there before heading to a church for a memorial service. The first lady laid a bouquet of flowers in front of the makeshift memorial. The president stood with his wife and crossed himself.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the Texas man who was driving the truck and was killed in a shootout with police, was an Army veteran struggling to survive a recent divorce but had shown no signs of anger in the weeks before the attack, according to his stepbrother.
The FBI said the 42-year-old, who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State extremist group, acted alone.
Biden, a Democrat who leaves office on January 20, met with families, survivors and local police affected by the attack, then spoke at a service at the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis, King of France.
“I know events like this are hard, the shock and pain is still so raw… It’s not the same. We know what it’s like to lose a part of your soul,” Biden told the audience.
Biden, like other presidents before him, has traveled several times during his tenure to comfort communities after natural disasters or violence.
The president’s first wife and young daughter died in a car accident, and one of his grown sons died of cancer.
“If there’s one thing we know, New Orleans defines strength and resilience,” he said.
