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The terrorist attack in New Orleans on New Year’s revelers is not just a fatal car ramming


Deadly attack on New Year’s revelers in New Orleans unfortunately, it is not the only time that suspected terrorists have used trucks to kill.

The bloodbath on Bourbon Street comes just weeks after A doctor born in Saudi Arabia allegedly drove a car into a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany on December 20, killing five people, including a 9-year-old boy. More than 200 others were injured. In recent years, there have been other incidents of car crashes during rush hour in Nice, France; Waukesha, Wisconsin; and New York, as one former Trump official at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warns of the vulnerability of “soft targets.”

“Car ramming or ‘vehicle as a weapon’ attacks are very effective. With this attack following the deadly events at a Christmas market in Germany, we should all be cautious while attending and enjoying mass gatherings,” Brian Harrell, former assistant secretary at DHS during the first Trump administration, he told Fox News Digital. “Soft targets and crowded places will always be desirable for terrorists given the potential loss of life.”

“In the first Trump administration, we recognized that the vehicle as a weapon was a real threat that needed to be mitigated,” Harrell added. “The challenge in securing public places or ‘soft targets’ is that the open nature of these locations makes them vulnerable to attack. Criminals target places where individuals of all backgrounds should be able to gather safely, freely and without fear. Such violence has no place in our society .”

The FBI is investigating an “act of terrorism” on Wednesday and the White House was notified after authorities said a suspect drove a truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing at least 10 and injuring dozens of others. A high-level New Orleans police source confirmed to Fox News Digital that the now-deceased suspect is Shamsud Din Jabbar. He was killed after opening fire on the police.

Jabbar was carrying a Glock and a .308 rifle — equipped with optics and a silencer — that had been reported stolen in New Jersey, the source said. The source added that at least four to five other suspects were involved.

Two policemen were killed. A source confirmed to Fox News Digital that police found explosive devices on Bourbon Street that were apparently viable.

TEN DEAD AND DOZENS INJURED AFTER DRIVER CRASHES CAR INTO CROWD ON BOURBON STREET, SUSPECT DEAD

An eight-block perimeter around Bourbon Street remains blocked while the investigation continues.

A front desk employee at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel told Fox News Digital that she was driving to work around 6 a.m. but had to walk a long way through police barricades. Although she didn’t see much, she heard what sounded like at least two soft “thuds”, suspecting that something had detonated.

Law enforcement officers on Bourbon Street on January 1, 2025 in New Orleans. (Michael DeMocker/Getty Images)

Fox News has learned that the vehicle used in the attack crossed the US-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas, in November. However, the alleged Bourbon Street gunman was not behind the wheel, meaning the vehicle changed hands at some point.

The Sugar Bowl is expected to start the College Football Playoff quarterfinal game between Georgia and Notre Dame, as it was expected to do in New Orleans on Wednesday night, but the dome was closed for security searches.

Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies work at the scene on Bourbon Street after at least 10 people were killed when one person allegedly drove into a crowd in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day on January 1, 2025. (Michael DeMocker/Getty Images)

While a popular Louisiana tourist destination is still reeling from one car attack, here’s a look at others over the past few years.

Germany’s interior minister warned on Monday that it was too early to suspect terrorism in the December 20 Christmas market incident.

The suspect was identified as a 50-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia who came to Germany in 2006 and received refugee status 10 years later. reports DW.

LIVE UPDATE: NEW ORLEANS MAYOR DEclares ‘TERRORIST ATTACK’ ON BOURBON STREET, FBI CONFIRMES INVESTIGATION

Although world famous New Year’s Eve in Times Square ball drop went off without a hitch this year, New York City experienced a car ramming incident in 2017, which remains the deadliest terrorist incident in the Big Apple since 9/11.

Police vans and emergency vehicles at the annual Christmas market in the city center after a possible terrorist incident on December 20, 2024 in Magdeburg, Germany. (Craig Stennett/Getty Images)

Halloween Afternoon 2017 Sayfullo Saipovfrom Uzbekistan, used a 6,000-pound truck to hit more than 20 people on the Hudson River bike path in Lower Manhattan. He eventually boarded a school bus and jumped out of his pickup truck shouting “Allahu akbar,” which means “God is great” in Arabic, the New York Times reported. The policeman shot the suspect in the abdomen. Prosecutors said he killed eight people and seriously injured many others, including a 14-year-old child.

A judge sentenced Saipov to eight consecutive life sentences and 260 years in prison in May 2023 for the ISIS-inspired attack. Survivors suffered amputations, serious brain injuries, life-changing physical injuries and significant psychological trauma, prosecutors said.

Three years ago, Darrell Brooks Jr. drove his red Ford Escape through a Christmas parade in downtown Waukesha, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee, on Nov. 21, 2021. The attack killed six people, including 8-year-old Jackson Sparks, who was marching with his baseball team. The other victims were identified as Tamara Durand, 52; Wilhelm Hospel, 81; Jane Kulich, 52; Leanna Owen, 71; and Virginia Sorenson, 79. Four of them were part of a group that called itself the “Dancing Grannies.” \

Sixty-two others were injured. The following November, Brooks was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on 76 charges, including six counts of first-degree intentional homicide and 61 counts of reckless endangerment.

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On July 14, 2016, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel – an alleged Islamic State sympathizer – drove a 19-tonne truck through the famous promenade in Nice, France, where thousands had gathered to watch the Bastille Day fireworks. In the terrorist attack, 86 people died and 450 were injured. Lahouaiej-Bouhlela was killed by the police, but in 2022 a French court convicted eight other people of helping to organize the massacre. Their sentences ranged from two to 18 years, NPR announced.

David Spunt of Fox News contributed to this report.



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