President-elect Donald J. Trump issued the following statement on Truth Social:
“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. 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!
President Joe Biden stated the following:
I have been continually briefed since early this morning by federal law enforcement leadership and my homeland security team, including Secretary of Homeland Security Ali Mayorkas, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall, and the Mayor of New Orleans regarding the horrific incident that occurred there overnight. The FBI is taking the lead in the investigation and is investigating this incident as an act of terrorism. I am grateful for the brave and swift response of local law enforcement in preventing even greater death and injury. I have directed my team to ensure every resource is available as federal, state, and local law enforcement work assiduously to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible and to ensure that there is no remaining threat of any kind.
I will continue to receive updates throughout the day, and I will have more to say as we have further information to share. In the meantime, my heart goes out to the victims and their families who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday. There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities.
At approximately 3:15am, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas, drove a pickup truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 10 and injuring dozens of others. After hitting the crowd, he exited the vehicle and fired upon local law enforcement. Law enforcement returned fire and the subject was pronounced deceased at the scene. Two law enforcement officers were injured and transported to a local hospital.
An ISIS flag was located in the vehicle and the FBI is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and
affiliations with terrorist organizations.
Weapons and a potential IED were located in the subject’s vehicle. Other potential IEDs were also located in the French
Quarter. The FBI’s Special Agent Bomb Technicians are working with our law enforcement partners to determine if any of
these devices are viable and they will work to render those devices safe.