The suspect accused of driving a truck through a crowd on Bourbon street in New Orleans, killing 10 people and injuring at least 36, has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar, according to two federal officials who spoke to BBC’s US partner, CBS News.
The FBI confirmed earlier today the incident is being treated as an “act of terrorism” and the perpetrator was killed after the attack.
The scene was just horrific’ – witness
A hotel staffer working near the incident in New Orleans says the he heard loud banging sounds just before 03:20 am local time during New Year’s Eve celebration.
“We were in our room just pretty much closing down for the evening at the end of all the events and everything, and when we looked out the window we noticed there was a lot of bodies lying on the ground,” he tells CBS News, the BBC’s US news partner.
He saw the truck speeding away and ran downstairs to help.
“There were some people we put into the hotel for assistance and it was just you know… the scene was just horrific.”
“Maybe about 35-40 minutes afterwards there was a bomb scare alert and the hotel was then, at that point, evacuated,” he explains.
The FBI earlier said they had found possible improvised exploding devices on scene and are checking if they are “viable”. BBC