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FBI: New Orleans Attack Suspect Not "Solely Responsible"; Cybertruck Explosion At Trump Hotel In Las Vegas Being Investigated as Possible Terrorist Act. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired January 01, 2025 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Phil Mattingly, in for Jake Tapper.

And we begin with that breaking news and our coverage terror in New Orleans just hours into the New Year. Right now, officials are looking for other people who may have assisted the suspect who drove a pickup truck through a crowd on one of America's most iconic streets, Bourbon Street, killing at least ten people and injuring at least 35 others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALETHEA DUNCAN, FBI ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENT: We are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism. We're aggressively running down all of the leads to identify this -- the possible subject's associates. We're working to ensure that there is no further threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Sources telling CNN the FBI is looking at whether anyone helped the suspect plant improvised explosive devices that were found around the French Quarter. Officials say the suspect who drove the truck is a 42 year old U.S. citizen from Texas who had an ISIS flag on his truck, and he is now dead after a shootout with police.

We're going to show you an image of that suspect right now. Warning you may find it disturbing. Now, here you can see his body laying on the street next to the truck. Police say he used as a weapon against innocent people. Police say he had that ISIS flag on the back of his truck.

One witness telling CNN his view of the carnage from above the balcony -- from the balcony above Bourbon Street revealed, quote, unimaginable casualty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY COTHRAN, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: I mean, these bodies -- I don't want to go into too much detail, but when I tell you mangled, I mean movie, only -- only a movie script could give you the images in my head.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: The attack unfolded less than 24 hours before the Sugar Bowl, a major college football matchup between Notre Dame and the University of Georgia. That Bowl game has now been postponed until tomorrow.

One of the victims in critical condition we have learned is a UGA student.

Let's go straight to New Orleans. CNN's Omar Jimenez is there on the scene.

Omar, what are you hearing from officials and people who actually witnessed this attack?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I think in short, it's shock for a lot of the people who either witnessed the attack directly or saw people running in any direction. We talked to a shop owner who actually has a store that's right on Bourbon Street, and what he told us is he had his store open lot later than normal because it was New Year's Eve. He wanted to try and accommodate the extra swell of people that he said he saw there.

And while he says he's seen violence at times in the past in that area, and unfortunately is has welcomed people into his store who have run from whether it's a gunfire or a fight. In previous times, this was completely different and he went running in the other direction, just as he had closed up shop. But of course, it is just one of many stories as investigators try to get to the heart of not just how this happened, but exactly why and through, which means.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Sudden terror on Bourbon Street.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There were just bodies and the screams you cannot think about, you know, on here that. It was chaos and very, very scary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything the car is hitting, it's getting thrown.

DISPATCHER: A vehicle ran through a crowd of people. There's multiple injuries, multiple casualties. They need you at Canal and Bourbon.

JIMENEZ: Just hours after the clock struck midnight, the driver in a pickup truck went around barricades, according to police, killing those celebrating New Year's Eve along the iconic street. At least ten people were killed, dozens others injured.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not just an act of -- of terrorism. This is evil. JIMENEZ: The suspect identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42 year old

man from Texas who previously served in the U.S. military. He was driving a privately rented pickup truck from Turo, an Airbnb type rental site for cars.

DUNCAN: An ISIS flag was located on the trailer hitch of the vehicle, and the FBI is working to determine the subject's potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.

JIMENEZ: Once the vehicle stopped, the driver reportedly opened fire on responding police officers.

DUNCAN: Law enforcement returned fire and the subject was pronounced deceased at the scene. Two law enforcement officers were injured and transported to local hospitals.

JIMENEZ: Witnesses are asking questions about why the city's steel mechanical barricades weren't up prior to the attack.

[16:05:05]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was police there at the entrance, a lot of police there, but the metal barricades were not up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bollards were not up because they are near completion.

JIMENEZ: The FBI, which has taken over the investigation, does not believe the suspect acted alone.

DUNCAN: We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates.

JIMENEZ: And the Sugar Bowl for college football, scheduled to be held in New Orleans this evening, has been postponed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All agree that it's in the best interests of everybody and public safety that we postpone the game for 24 hours.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ (on camera): And, of course, a lot of extra tourists in town for that game. We've encountered a lot of them here.

Now, there are also questions -- questions in this about barricades that had been previously installed here. Well, we learned from law enforcement and from officials here that those barricades were not working at the time of this attack. They were instead being repaired ahead of the Super Bowl in February. Instead, the police department said that they had put in place police vehicles and other types of barriers to sort of try and prevent any type of vehicle from coming in.

Well, they said this person went around those barriers on the sidewalk and eventually, as we know, plowed into these people. And of course, at the center of all of this are at least ten people that are killed, others that have been injured, all in the opening hours of 2025 as their families and loved ones are trying to figure out how to move forward.

MATTINGLY: Omar Jimenez live for us in New Orleans -- thanks so much.

I want to turn now to CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez.

Evan, you've been breaking news on this throughout the course of the day. You're getting new information about the FBI's investigation into whether the suspect had help. What are you learning?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the key question, obviously, is the help, the additional associates that the FBI assistant special agent in charge was mentioning. And what we know at this point, Phil, is that they have the FBI has recovered video -- surveillance video that appears to show three -- three men and one woman appearing to help put IEDs, what are believed to be IEDs, at locations in the French Quarter.

Now, we heard from the FBI there that there were additional potential explosives that were found during a search later this morning, and they were rendered safe during the day today. And so, the surveillance video appears to show those people either helping to put those devices there or being close by. Again, that's part of this investigation.

Now, to find those people, to ask them whether they were involved in some way, did they help build the explosives or were they just, you know, perhaps standing by? All of those things are on the table for the FBI.

The other thing that's very key to this is, you know, the association with ISIS, the idea that this person was inspired by a terrorist organization and what they found was some writings inside the truck, perhaps on the person of this, of this suspect who -- that appears to suggest inspiration by ISIS. Again, that helps buttress the view by law enforcement that this was a terrorist attack, that this was something that was inspired by ISIS or by terrorist organizations. Again, all of this is now part of the investigation.

The question of where this person got their radicalization, how far back does that go? We know that he is a former Army member, a member of the U.S. Army. So, you know, how far back does that radicalization go? We know he's from Houston.

All of those places are now being investigated, including locations in Houston as well as locations in Louisiana where the suspect stayed before coming to carry out this attack. All of those things now, part of this very broad investigation. It's going to be a long time, I think, before we get a final answer on everything that was involved here.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, it just seems to just create more questions at this point on some level, given the fact that they're looking at more people. Real quick, yeah?

PEREZ: Well, I just want to add real quick -- I mean, the idea that you have more than one person involved, I think is a huge deal as far as investigation, because, you know, in the last few years, even in the era of ISIS, what we've usually seen is -- is lone wolf attacks. We've covered so many of that of these, you and I.

And for you to have more than one person involved typically is problematic for carrying out attacks, because the more -- the more people involved, the greater the chance that the law enforcement is going to find out something. So the idea that they were able to carry this out more than one person's involvement is a big, big part of this. That's going to be very, very hard for the FBI to try to again figure out, right?

Evan, you and the team have been doing great reporting all day. Keep us posted as you learn more. Evan Perez, thanks so much.

Now I want to bring in retired New Orleans police superintendent, Ronal Serpas. Also with me, CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller.

John, I want to start with you where Evan left off.

[16:10:01]

You know, the idea that investigators have reviewed this video showing three men and a woman who may have been involved in placing suspected improvised explosive devices in New Orleans, is there still a public risk here? I think everybody's trying to get a sense. This sounds bad, and it sounds like something people should be very uneasy about. What does that tell you?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, I think in New Orleans, if you go by past experiences, your guide, once they have done -- once they have carried out effectively a surprise attack, that is when security increases. It's when risk goes down. The question is, is there another surprise attack at another time at another place? Obviously, the things you're seeing around the Sugar Bowl and other things where -- where security is being increased just makes that harder.

But if you look at the events in Las Vegas and try to decipher. All right, we need to know what that means. If you look at some of the other things going on, this is a time where we have to be really on heightened alert, because if there is the possibility of not a lone wolf, which is Evan pointed out, that's what we're used to. The lone wolf inspired attacker.

But if there are accomplices, if there were additional devices, if there's something that suggests coordinated efforts, another reason why we have to be looking hard at Las Vegas to figure out what does that mean in this scope? Then you know, you're looking at a resurgence of the kind of terrorism that we haven't seen in a long time. It goes from being inspired to direct it.

MATTINGLY: And to be clear for viewers. And we're going to talk a little bit more about this later on, John, I believe you're referring to there was an explosion of a cyber truck in Las Vegas that law enforcement officials are now telling our colleague Brynn Gingras is being investigated as a potential terrorist activity.

Ronal, in terms of the surveillance here, the CCTV, I imagine there's cameras everywhere in this city. You would have a better knowledge than most about what that means, what that gives law enforcement officials, as they investigate here.

How quickly can they identify if there are other potential issues out there when it comes to IEDs that have been planted?

RONAL SERPAS, RETIRED NEW ORLEANS POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: Well, thank you for the time to be with you. And it's always good to be with John.

The ability to have video surveillance in any city, but in New Orleans in particular in the French Quarter is extensive. You have private homes with video. You have businesses with video. You have government video. And our new field of digital forensics units across the country are incredibly adept at finding information that can be as important as anything else you might in an investigation.

MATTINGLY: John, just -- just to stay on this before we move on a little bit, because again, I think this is a significant moment, as Evan was describing, as you guys have been describing here, given the fact that it doesn't necessarily track with what were used to in these types of situations as a lone wolf idea, what is law enforcement doing right now to try and identify, to try and find these individuals that they believe may have played a role here?

MILLER: Well, right now, they're going to be looking. And Evan described a little bit of this. But just to take it a level deeper, they're looking at their suspect, Mr. Jabbar, and saying, all right, what is his universe?

What are the communications devices associated with him? What are the ones that we know about? Are there other burner phones or things that weren't on the radar where we can exploit those and say, number one, lets track him through the towers, where has he stopped?

Where has he spent time? Is that a residential location? Where was he putting his head down in Louisiana? Where was he putting his head down in Texas? What are the people associated with those locations?

What are the phone calls that he was making in the day, the 24, the 48 hours before this? And who were those people?

They're going to be peeling back layer after layer after layer, starting with communications. And as Ron said, they're going to be going back through those videos and saying, all right, let's -- let's go from the time that this box is placed here with these nails in it, and let's trace that backwards in either direction to see how did it get there. Where did that person come from? Are there other people acting together? Its tedious work.

And -- I mean, I don't have to remind you, we just saw how this comes together in the recent New York assassination of the head of UnitedHealthcare, where they literally built their way out in video canvases, signals intelligence and other things to get a richer picture of what was involved.

MATTINGLY: Ronal, there was -- during the press conference where we kind of learned a lot more about the fact that this wasn't a single individual, necessarily, there were other suspects that they were looking into. There was also a moment that struck me as particularly, I think, horrifying on some level, awful that some of the victims' bodies were still at the scene. Talk about kind of how that ends up being the case, what's actually happening at the scene right now for these families that had to wake up to the New Year with horrible information, trying to figure out where their loved ones may be?

SERPAS: That's a great question. And it speaks to what's the response of the police? The police run to danger. The police deliver aid.

[16:15:02]

The police save lives. And then most importantly, they have to protect evidence.

These are horrible times for family members and communities. But the ability to ensure that a scene is handled properly is sterile as that might sound, is one of the key pieces of any criminal investigation to go back and find accountability.

And guess in this case, it could be that the driver will have not faced a court, but there will be accomplices, I would suspect, and they are going to face a court. And this is the time when you've got to make sure you are finding every shred of evidence that you can. Be it video, be it someone who saw something unusual.

As much as our video technology and phone technology can help us, we've got to remember the age old advice from 911 forward. See something, say something. Those pieces of information can come together.

So it's horrible to see this. Its very painful, but we don't want to see police make a mistake on evidence collection that could let someone otherwise who would be guilty get off on a technicality.

MATTINGLY: Ronal Serpas, John Miller, deeply appreciate your expertise here. Thanks to you both.

We want to turn to another major story John was just referencing breaking just now, a fire outside Trump Hotel in Las Vegas and a law enforcement official telling CNN this one is also being investigated as a possible terrorist act.

Let's get straight to CNN's Brynn Gingras.

Brynn, what do you know here?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Phil. Listen, it's important to note, as you just had that conversation with those guys that, you know, law enforcement at this point is in a heightened alert anyway. So they're going to be looking at these incidents that are extremely unusual, like what you're seeing here in Las Vegas as a possible terrorist act until they can rule that out. So that is what we're learning from law enforcement at this point.

But what the details we've learned from the sheriffs department there is that this vehicle fire happened at about 8:40 this morning outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. It's 2024 Cybertruck that pretty much exploded at the valet area of that hotel.

We know that there was one person found deceased inside, and it's unclear at this point to law enforcement if that person is a male or female because of the burns so badly. We also know that there were seven people that were also injured. It appears minor injuries at this point because of this incident that happened there in front of the hotel. The FBI is involved in this investigation, and Elon Musk actually has tweeted just recently about it, saying now he has his senior team investigating and saying in this exact his X tweet, that we've never seen anything like this.

So at this point, again, because of the heightened way that law enforcement is going about everything that is happening across this country. And of course, after what happened in New Orleans, that's how this investigation stands right now. Until they are able to point it in a separate direction, certainly they're going to be doing just what those guys have been talking about is looking at video surveillance of where that Cybertruck came from, tracing steps, trying to uncover more. But this is still in the early stages of that investigation.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, important to note that there's been no evidence, at least that we've been talking about publicly that connects either of these two things together. We're still reporting it out. Brynn Gingras has been leading our reporting on that.

Brynn, thanks so much.

GINGRAS: Yeah.

MATTINGLY: We're going to go back to the Bourbon Street attack in a moment. We're getting new surveillance video showing moments right before the attack.

Plus, former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu will join me next with his reaction to this horrific day in his beloved city.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:22:28]

MATTINGLY: We're back with the breaking news. CNN has just obtained surveillance video showing the moment that a suspect drove a pickup truck onto Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

Now, before we show this, we do want to warn you. It is disturbing because this is the beginning of the attack that killed at least ten people and injured 35 more. This clip is showing Canal Street at 3:16 a.m. local time. The truck driver -- the truck is seen going north with a large pole

attached to the rear. The suspect then passes what appears to be a law enforcement car, and then rapidly turns right onto Bourbon Street and accelerates through a group of people.

Let's go now to CNN's Tom Foreman.

Tom, you spent many years in New Orleans. Help us understand the magnitude of what was happening in the French quarter at the time of this attack.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bourbon Street in the French quarter really is the heart of this city that lives on tourism. If you look at what happened to the approach to this, this makes it look smaller than it is. In some ways, you see this come up this road here and turn this is over here on canal and turn in.

And then when it starts moving into this area, this is all the French Quarter in here. The actual -- it says it hits the crowd here. If you look at the pictures, it actually seems to have gone further than that before it actually reached a stopping point somewhere up in here. So, about three blocks.

So this is a 4,000 to 5,000 pound vehicle. It's an electric vehicle and accelerates to 60 miles an hour in four seconds. So there would be a tremendous number of people here, especially during Sugar Bowl time.

And this is not that far actually from the Superdome, which is right over here. You could wind your way over here pretty quickly to get where it happened. And many, many, many tourists here because of the hotels that are there, the restaurants that are there, the clubs that are there, the bars. This is a busy, busy, busy area any time.

And one of our witnesses said typically, even on New Year's Eve, you see the crowds spread out a little bit after midnight. Some of them said, really at 3:00 a.m., it was still pretty much the way it had been. So a tremendous number of people, if it had not run into that red crane like device, you see, if the truck had not hit there and had kept going, the crowds down here on Bourbon would have only grown more dense. And who knows how heavy the damage would have been? How many people would have been killed?

Real key here, though. One thing I want to point out, the city started this program to replace what are called bollards. You've been hearing it all day long.

The bollards are these metal posts here that are rising up. They started this back in November to put in new ones because the old system wasn't working well enough. The purpose of these is to stop people from being able to drive down that street. Usually they're retractable in some fashion.

That process was underway with a goal of having it done by the time of the Super Bowl, which is going to be a little more than a month from now. It was not complete. One of the complaints they had was that these the truck went up on the sidewalk around a police car that was here, obviously completely inadequate, stopgap -- stopgap measure. And that's why its the way it is. And now they've got Mardi Gras coming up and jazz fest coming up, more big events, millions of people here, and they haven't shown yet. They know quite how they're going to deal with this kind of threat.

MATTINGLY: Such important context. Tom Foreman, thanks so much.

Here now is former two term mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu.

Mr. Mayor, our hearts, our prayers go out to your city, your community.

Actually, I want to start where we heard Tom leave off because I think this is a really important point here. Just the scale of the types of events that this city that this community has, that they deal with from a local official perspective, from a law enforcement perspective, on a regular basis. How do they move forward? What are the things that need to be done as soon as tomorrow night with the Sugar Bowl?

MITCH LANDRIEU, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: Well, first of all, Phil, thank you for having me. It is. It is a day where our hearts are heavy. And of course, everybody's thoughts and prayers go out to the incredible victims.

Thanks to the law enforcement officers who ran to the fire and took this guy out because it could have been exponentially worse and worse. And then to the medical professionals who cared for all of the victims and of course, the deceased, it's a horrible day.

Tom, who spent some time down here, and if Tom is listening, how are you doing? He understands the terrain.

We -- New Orleans is a city that welcomes the rest of the world to it, almost year round. From the Super Bowl to the Sugar Bowl to the Final Four, to the NBA all star games, Mardi Gras, jazz fest. I mean, we are used to having huge, huge crowds here and our law enforcement are really, really good at managing crowds.

You can see that it is literally impossible to really protect every inch of the city, but Bourbon Street is, Tom was saying, is a special place. After the attacks in Nice in 2016, which was done very similar to this by a truck that ran down folks, and then in Berlin and then of course, a couple of weeks ago, you saw again in Germany at a Christmas market, the same thing happened, you have to try to secure Bourbon Street.

Tom, I didn't see the video because I can't -- I'm in the studio, but that's a three block terrain and had that vehicle not hit that crane, it would it probably would not have stopped. So remember there are about 30,000 hotel rooms in about a 30 square block area in New Orleans, which makes it one of the most walkable cities. And they have to make extra efforts to pull out the perimeter, to push out the perimeter tomorrow night, to have extra personnel there as well. But they'll -- they'll try to accomplish that.

The most important thing right now, though, let me just say this. I know that everybody wants the Monday morning quarterback the incident right now. But right now there are potentially some still folks that are at large. And I know that it's critically important that there's clear command and control, coordination and communication between the federal authorities, that's the president, the FBI, the DEA, the ATF, the U.S. marshals, the governors office, homeland security, and, of course, the mayors office and the surrounding sheriffs to make sure that they secure who those other individuals are.

And I know they're all working on that really, really hard. I think it was wise to postpone the Sugar Bowl tomorrow night to give them a little extra time to expand the perimeter, and I know they're working hard on that.

MATTINGLY: Today, Mr. Mayor, the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, urged the public to be vigilant. What should the public be looking out for here in a situation like this?

LANDRIEU: Well, you know, the first thing is, is based on the information that we know, there's a lot of speculation, but we know that this was, in fact, an American citizen who we believe was from Texas and an, unbelievably, had had some kind of military record. And so and was evidently here for a couple of weeks.

So, not -- not unlike the assassination attempt in New York sometime, evidently, this guy had been here for a couple of weeks looking at how to get this done, and he was intent on killing a lot of people, which, of course, he succeeded in doing last night before the law enforcement officers, you know, shot -- shot him.

So everybody just needs to be vigilant. The Superdome is going to be safe tomorrow night. We do these things all of the time. You understand now because of your reporting that there a nationwide threat. So this was a terrorist attack in an American City. It wasn't just an attack on New Orleans. It was an attack on America herself.

And all of us have to be in this fight to make sure that we don't bow down to terrorists. We don't let them stop us from enjoying ourselves, but we have to secure the city, and we have to continue to do this over a long period of time, because we have these other major events coming, not the least of which is the Super Bowl, which we've handled many, many, many times.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, it's very true. Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, always appreciate your time, sir. Thanks so much.

LANDRIEU: That's great, Phil. Thanks for having me.

MATTINGLY: Well, for hours, many families didn't know if their loved ones were among those hurt or killed in the Bourbon Street attack. The New Orleans City Council president personally tried to put some of those anxious families at ease.

[16:30:00]

She'll join me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: Staying with our breaking news, the FBI in Houston and the Harris County, Texas sheriff's office are, quote, currently conducting law enforcement activity in north Houston related to this mornings New Orleans attack.

Let's go to CNN's Kyung Lah, who has new information on the suspect's background.

Kyung, what are you learning?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: We're learning much more about the man identified as the suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, excuse me. He is an Army veteran. He is somebody who says online that he worked in real estate in information technology, and through some records, we're also learning that he struggled financially in recent years.

He was born in Beaumont, Texas, and in a 2020 YouTube video, we have a picture of it still of him from that video that has now been taken down. He talks about himself in something titled a personal introduction.

[16:35:03]

He talks about his life and his career professionally, as well as in the military, and he says in that YouTube video that serving in the military taught him the meaning of, quote, great service and what it means to be responsive and take everything seriously, dotting I's and crossing T's to make sure that things go off without a hitch. Again, that video has now been taken offline. He sat in this video next to a framed poster with the word discipline and bold and near a book titled leadership.

Authorities do confirm that he did serve in the U.S. Army. In 2013, in a U.S. army Facebook post, he was identified in this picture as Army staff sergeant, working as an information technology team chief for the 82nd Airborne Divisions First Brigade Combat Team, and that was at the time.

He also posted an online resume, and it shows a couple of degrees. An associate degree from Central Texas College in 2010 and a bachelors from Georgia State University in 2017. Georgia State does confirm that he did attend for two years, that he did graduate with a bachelors degree focusing on computer information systems and Texas records, Phil, also do show that he did have a real estate license in 2019, and it expired in 2023 -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: Now, Kyung, as part of the effort that you and your team go through to fill out pictures, when we have moments like this, you've also been able to learn something about his divorce records. What are you learning from those?

LAH: That -- that picture, if you're looking at these photos, the picture of him being younger, I just want to kind of quickly go through those pictures really quickly. MATTINGLY: Please.

LAH: That's him. The U.S. Army photo showing him in front of a screen again while he was in the U.S. Army. And then that picture is the picture of him more recently, the older picture of him that is from YouTube. It's a -- it's a screen. You can see that discipline is right behind him. That's the one that he titled as personal introduction.

And back to your question, Phil. We were able to retrieve some publicly available divorce records. And the reason why these records are important is because it gives you a picture of what he was facing currently, financially.

Now it does look like in 2012, his wife had sued him trying to get some type of child support. And then as part of that divorce settlement in 2022, he wrote an email that he had fallen behind in his house payments, that he was in danger of foreclosure, that his house payments had fallen behind more than $27,000. And he also wrote that the business he'd formed that he talked about on YouTube, that it had lost about $28,000, and he had also incurred $16,000 in credit card debt.

So it gives you a picture of what he was facing financially in these recent years, Phil.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, an important picture that keep working. Please keep us posted as you learn more.

Kyung Lah, thanks so much.

Well, in the wake of today's attack, city and state leaders are trying to reassure folks about the security heading into the Sugar Bowl, the bowl that has now been postponed until tomorrow. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JEFF LANDRY (R), LOUISIANA: And for the citizens out there that were thinking, well, man, do I really want to go to the Sugar Bowl tomorrow, you could -- I tell you one thing, your governor is going to be there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: So what's giving officials that strong level of confidence? We'll get into it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:42:39]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANDRY: Tomorrow, when Notre Dame plays Georgia, every flag of every state building in this state is going to be at half-mast.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MATTINGLY: That was Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry referring to the Sugar Bowl now postponed after this morning's terror attack in New Orleans. It will take place at the Superdome, less than a mile from where the attack took place.

Let's go straight to CNN's Andy Scholes.

Andy, what changes are officials making now that the game has been rescheduled for Thursday?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Phil, the officials there in New Orleans, they maintain that safety is their number one priority. And they say there's going to definitely be heightened security to the game until the game there tomorrow in New Orleans, they're going to have bomb dogs sweeping in and around the stadium, you know, throughout the day and throughout the game.

And moving a game like this, you know, clearly was not an easy decision, they said. But they're doing it out of an abundance of caution.

And here with Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley on the decision to postpone the game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF HUNDLEY, CEO, SUGAR BOWL GAME: We have been in consultation with ESPN, with the college football playoff, with the Southeastern Conference, with the University of Georgia, with Notre Dame. All parties and all agree that it's in the best interests of everybody and public safety that we postpone the game for 24 hours.

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I think the mayor and the governor are very wise to postpone this ball game for 24 hours. There's just too much stuff we don't know. And -- it's just not worth it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now, Georgia and Notre Dame, you know, they -- they stay right there in the French Quarter, not far from -- from where this incident happened. And both schools put out statements saying that the team personnel, anyone that was traveling was a part of the team the band included, they were all fine.

But Georgia also did put out a statement saying that unfortunately, one of their students was critically injured in the incident, Phil. So, our thoughts and prayers go out to that student as well as anyone that was affected in the attack.

MATTINGLY: Absolutely. Andy Scholes, thanks so much.

Our next guest is someone who knows New Orleans quite well. I want to bring in Louisiana State Senator Royce Duplessis.

Mr. Senator, you grew up in New Orleans. You were raised in New Orleans. What was it like to receive the phone call to hear the news about this attack this morning?

[16:45:01]

ROYCE DUPLESSIS (D), LOUISIANA STATE SENATE: Thank you, Phil.

Well, waking up this morning, like most people, most normal people who they wake up on New Year's Day, you're looking forward to a new day, a new opportunity, and you're just grateful for all the blessings in your life.

So to receive this type of devastating news at the time when I opened my eyes this morning was something that I just really couldn't believe. It was truly unthinkable. And my immediate thoughts went to the victims trying to figure out how many people actually did die.

We know at least ten people have perished, and over 25 have been injured. But to the point about having grown up in a city like New Orleans, major events is nothing new to us, large crowd gatherings is part of our identity. And for something like this to happen, it's certainly never happened in my lifetime. No terrorist event like this has happened, so it's been shocking to our core.

But we are going to stand firm. We reject any type of terrorist acts. We will not be intimidated. And this will not define the city of New Orleans.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. The strength of the community and anybody who's been down there understands kind of the love the community has for visitors. It pairs with the fact that the community is so good at handling things like 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 people coming in, that's a --that's a regular day that ends in Y down in New Orleans. I think the question with the delay of the game is concerns related to the fact that FBI officials, law enforcement officials saying the suspect may not have acted alone.

What more do you know about that right now?

DUPLESSIS: Yes, we received information several hours ago that indicated that this individual may have not acted alone. I want to commend Sugar Bowl leadership, FBI leadership, state and local law enforcement for making the difficult but appropriate decision to delay the Sugar Bowl. We can have games, we can have sporting events, but we cannot replace lives. And we've lost lives.

And there's still more assessment to be done. And part of that assessment, a major part of that assessment is to identify who these other actors are and swiftly apprehend them and thoroughly complete this investigation, because in addition to giving the families the solace that they're going to need through this devastating loss, we are going to have to give residents and visitors a sense of comfort and a sense of safety that we investigated and solved this, and I believe and have full faith that all -- all parties are acting in coordination at all levels to get to the bottom of this.

MATTINGLY: Well, our hearts and prayers certainly go out to you, to the community on the whole. Louisiana State Senator Royce Duplessis, thanks so much.

DUPLESSIS: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: A live look in New Orleans right now, that's Bourbon Street shut down. Still, as the investigation nears the 13-hour mark. More new details just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:52:06]

MATTINGLY: We're back with our breaking news. We want to again show you this new surveillance video capturing the moment the New Orleans attack suspect drove a pickup truck onto Bourbon Street. A reminder, this is disturbing.

The surveillance clip shows Canal Street at 3:16 a.m. local time. The suspect is seen driving north in the white pickup with a large pole attached to the back. The suspect then passes what appears to be a law enforcement car, then rapidly turns right onto Bourbon Street, speeding up while driving through a group of people.

It is terrifying video to watch from the scene. Obviously, we have seen the result of it over the course of the last 13 hours.

I want to bring in Helena Moreno. She is the New Orleans city council president.

I appreciate your time, our hearts and our prayers go out to your entire community.

Your reaction to not only the attack, but the fact the FBI is saying that -- we're going to actually be right back as we continue to follow the breaking news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:57:43]

MATTINGLY: We are back with the breaking news, today's deadly terror attack in New Orleans.

And I want to bring in Helena Moreno. She's the New Orleans City Council president.

Really appreciate your time. Our hearts and prayers go out to your entire community. This horrific attack, but also with it the news that the FBI says the suspect may not have acted alone.

What's your reaction to this moment?

HELENA MORENO, NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT: Well, I'll say this -- I mean, it's been a tremendously tragic day in the city of New Orleans. And now, we are working, of course, with our state and federal partners to make sure that the city of New Orleans is secure, and obviously doing everything possible to support our federal partners as they go after anyone else who may potentially have been involved in this.

No doubt in my mind that they deserve the justice that is coming their way. For, you know, what happened overnight? Just to tell you about just how terrible this has been, this afternoon, you know, I unfortunately was told about some individuals who were missing who unfortunately will not be coming home and their families have been waiting at university medical center for information as to why they weren't at any of our hospitals. And now, unfortunately, they have that tragic news as to why.

So, you know, moving forward now, as you can imagine, we are looking at our Sugar Bowl, which will take place tomorrow, and looking at all different types of security measures that are needed to make sure that anyone going to the Sugar Bowl is going to be safe and that it will be a safe event.

MATTINGLY: You know, first off, the heartbreaking story of people whose loved ones would not be coming home or weren't in hospitals. But CNN is now getting new video of a heavy law enforcement presence in the Marigny neighborhood in New Orleans. We're going to show it to viewers right now.

Do you have any sense of what's happening there, kind of the progress that's been made in the investigation?

MORENO: So as you are well aware, there are other investigations regarding additional suspects that those investigations are ongoing. Some of those are within the city of New Orleans.

And so, anyone else who potentially had any type of role in this, they will be targeted and they will be sought after. And so, you know, there are additional things that will be happening around the city. And I'm sure our law enforcement agencies will give you those details.

MATTINGLY: New Orleans City Council President Helena Moreno, our hearts and prayers go out to you and your entire community. We know the focus by law enforcement moving forward. There will certainly be an enormous amount of it as you pursue justice as well, with potential other suspects here.

Thank you so much for your time and for what your city has been through over the course of the last 13 hours.

Our news continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM".