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Police Investigates New Orleans Attack as Act of Terrorism; 10 Dead After Driver Slams Truck Through New Orleans Crowd; Suspect in New Orleans Attack Has ISIS Flag at the time of Attack; What We Know About Truck Used in Attack; Suspect was a U.S. Citizen. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 01, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

Thank you for joining us on CNN News Central. I'm Brianna Keilar in Washington. Boris Sanchez is on assignment. And we are following breaking news out of New Orleans, where the FBI says it is investigating a deadly attack in the city's famed French Quarter as an act of terrorism. At least 10 people killed, dozens injured, when police say a driver who was, quote, "hell-bent" on creating carnage intentionally plowed a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street as people were celebrating the New Year.

And we're told that the suspect, who is now dead, had an ISIS flag at the time of the attack. Listen as a witness describes the horror and panic as the situation unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZION PARSONS, WITNESS: You hear the screech of tires. And when I turn my head around, there's like a Yukon or Escalade or something just barreling down the street. Bro, I kid you not, like, real-life horror movie, everything in the car is hitting, it's getting thrown. It's getting thrown up into the air and away and just -- or under the car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Right now, federal agents have taken over the scene. They say that they are looking into possible explosives that a source tells us were found in the suspect's pickup truck, and they're also looking to see whether he had any associates.

Let's go to CNN's Omar Jimenez. He is live in New Orleans on this story. Omar, we are standing by for an update from law enforcement that had shifted from noon your time to 2:00 p.m. We are standing by for that. In the meantime, what more are you learning?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, right now, here at the scene, we are just outside the French Quarter here in New Orleans. This is about as close as you can get as you can obviously see the State Troopers here. We've also seen federal investigators, I should say, go in and out over the course of really just the few hours, but of course, since the early morning hours here, likely as well. We've seen corner vans come in and out of this area on top of this. So, it's been a very active scene to this point.

But of course, the big question for a lot of these people who have been walking by, there have been many tourists here in the area as well, is not just how this could have happened, but why as well. You mentioned some of the latest reporting that we've gotten from our CNN colleagues, from law enforcement sources, that an ISIS flag was found in this suspect's truck. And then on top of that at least one of those sources says explosives was found in a chest in that truck as well.

So, likely at the very least there, there did seem to be a plan here. This did not seem to be a spur of the moment thing. And that is what we are hearing reflected from law enforcement as well. The FBI, of course, investigating this as an act of terrorism. But take a listen to what we heard from the New Orleans police earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUPT. ANNE KIRKPATRICK, NEW ORLEANS POLICE: It did involve a man driving a pickup truck down Bourbon Street at a very fast pace and it was very intentional behavior. This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And look, for those who are not familiar with New Orleans, this part of Bourbon Street, the French Quarter is one of, if not the most popular parts of the city here, especially on a night like New Year's Eve. And of course, we know this happened just in the initial few hours of 2025. And then you get to the heart of this. There are at least 10 people that have been killed over 30 people injured. People that, again, were just enjoying the very first few hours of this year.

And in some of the videos that we've seen out of the scene pretty horrible at this point. But there are even some who appear to be trying to check on their loved ones or in shock at what they're seeing in front of them, likely what happened in just an instant, again, in those initial few moments of 2025 here.

And outside of the scene itself, there have been -- there's been a lot of foot traffic back and forth. There was already a lot going on in the city obviously before this happened, a big football game happening as well. So, a lot of extra tourists in town that wouldn't ordinarily be here. But of course, all of it -- all of them, no matter what they're here for, is now at the center is looking at this as sort of the center of their visit.

[13:05:00]

And with the same questions that we all have, why exactly did this happen and how exactly did this happen, even if we are getting some clues now. Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, such a horrible scene, horrific stories coming out of it. Omar, thank you for the report from New Orleans. Here with us now is CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez, who has been working his sources as the FBI is taking charge of this investigation. What are you learning about how this is going?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the things going on right now Brianna, is the FBI is trying to determine who else, or if anyone else could have been involved in this. Obviously, the fact that they found an ISIS flag leads you to wonder whether there's either people here or somewhere else that this person was in touch with or talking to. The person had some intent to do this, and we don't know how long they've been planning it.

But this is something that now is an investigation that stretches all the way to Texas, where the vehicle was registered and it appears where this person had some ties, some links. And so, that's one of the -- that's part of what the work the FBI is doing at this hour, which is to try to find people who knew the suspect, people who may have seen and heard something, any kind of indicator of any radicalization that may have happened.

This person is a U.S. citizen. And so, obviously, the -- there is a lot of history now that the FBI is combing through. There's a lot of evidence recovery that is being done. The FBI is bringing in resources from outside, again, because this is such a major event, 10 people were killed because of the nature of some of the injuries. It is possible that there might be even more. So, that's, again, part of the work that is being done here, talking to victims to see what they heard and what they saw.

These IEDs that they saw inside this ice chest, again, you've heard --

KEILAR: In the truck.

PEREZ: In the truck. One of the things that happened earlier today, you heard booms, which is the bomb squad, essentially rending -- rendering that them safe for the evidence people to be able to get to the truck and be able to do their investigation.

A lot of things are going to be done now, which is to look for any kind of communication. If you are carrying out an attack in the name of ISIS, often what suspects do is they communicate that to someone. So -- and that's something is left essentially as something that will be found later on by law enforcement. That is typically what happens. And that's one of the things that FBI is looking for at this point.

KEILAR: Yes. And hopefully, we'll be learning more here soon. I just want to be clear. I'd said it was 2:00 Central Time, it's 2:00 Eastern that we are going to be expecting an update from law enforcement on this attack in New Orleans. Evan, thank you so much. We'll come back to you as you're getting more information.

And with us now, we have CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. Andrew, you're hearing the reporting there. We're waiting for more information. We expect that we'll learn more at this briefing that is coming up here in the next hour. What are you expecting to find out? ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST AND FORMER DEPUTY FBI DIRECTOR: Well, I mean, I think it's possible we'll learn the identity of this attacker. And, you know, honestly, Brianna, there's so many things, so many questions that we have for the law enforcement community at this point.

But I think Evan was absolutely right, they are really racing now to be able to do -- to take as many steps as they can before that identity of the subject gets out because that gives them -- it gives law enforcement a little bit more freedom to move to do some things covertly, to show up at people's houses who they want to talk to without those folks expecting them to be there, things like that, that can give them just a little bit of an edge in an interview or an interaction that might lead to important information.

It's highly likely that this person left behind a trail of activity in his personal life, in his internet searches, on his electronics devices. So, you want to -- they want to do everything they can to locate all of that evidence as quickly as possible, obtain search warrants for locations and vehicles and places where those things might be held and then to exploit that -- those items for intelligence purposes very quickly. Because again, the race here is to find out if this person was working with or planning with or training with anyone else. And right now, it seems like they don't know a whole lot.

KEILAR: Yes. And the motive. We are getting potential clues into that, knowing that this individual had an ISIS flag with them. Obviously, Andy, we're still waiting to learn more, but what does that tell you? What questions does that raise for you?

[13:10:00]

MCCABE: Well, I mean, if -- as an investigator, it's a pretty clear indicator that this person is in the very least case, someone who is inspired by the foreign terrorist organization ISIS. In the worst case, he might actually be a member of or an operative for that group or for people who are associated with that group. So, that's -- you know, that's a pretty big -- that's a pretty broad spectrum of possibilities there, but it's super important for our law enforcement and intelligence folks to be able to shed some light on that.

I am sure as they locate or as they identify what we call facilities for him, those are e-mail addresses, phone numbers, you know, texting accounts, social media accounts, they are scouring all of their data sets and intelligence data sets to see if there was ever any indication of this person. They want to know is this someone who we knew about or should have known about? Did we know -- when did this -- if they're not native to the United States, when did they come here? If they are a U.S. citizen, did they travel overseas at different times?

So, all of that information is out there, but they just need some really key specifics about the subject before they can get, you know, informative returns on some of those queries, but it's a race right now. KEILAR: Yes. And part of that is looking as they are to see what his associations are. How did they do that? Can you pull the curtain back on that for us?

MCCABE: Sure. So, there are -- there's all kinds of intelligence data sets that the FBI and its intel partners have access to some of them -- well, I'll use one that we know from a lot of discussions over the last year. We spent a lot of time talking about the renewal of the FBI's 702 authority. That's under FISA Section 702, the FBI can monitor or collected the communications of foreign terrorists overseas.

And that's important to us because on rare occasions, you have individuals here in the United States who are talking to or making contact with foreign terrorists overseas. So, that is an example of one data set that they will look at as soon as they have facilities or identifiers that they can run through it. They want to see, even if this is somebody we've never heard of before, we've never investigated before, did this person kind of stray into our intelligence collection net and we weren't aware of it? Did this person have contacts with people that are concerning for us?

So, all of those pieces of information will help build a rich picture of whether or not -- how deeply this person was involved with international terrorism or not. They may have been entirely just a lone offender who consumed online propaganda, became radicalized here in the United States and then took it upon themselves to act. We have certainly seen that to be the case, you know, in many prior incidents. So, that's really the light they're trying to shed on this because it all goes to that question of, is there an ongoing threat that we need to be ready for?

KEILAR: Yes, all important questions. Andy, thank you so much for your insights. We really appreciate it.

MCCABE: Sure thing.

KEILAR: Ahead on CNN News Central, more of our coverage of this attack in New Orleans. We do have some new details about the truck that was used and also what we know about the victims. We'll have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:15:00]

KEILAR: We are getting some new details now about the deadly New Year's Day attack in New Orleans that left 10 people dead and injured 35. CNN has learned the truck used in the attack was listed on Turo. It's a website used to rent out personal vehicles, kind of like Airbnb, but for cars. CNN's Kyung Lah is with us live from Los Angeles with details here.

The owner of the car actually spoke to CNN, Kyung. What did we learn there? KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he was speaking to CNN's investigative reporter, Casey Tolan, who confirmed in a text message that this vehicle was indeed listed on Turo. Now, if you're not familiar with this, this is a website that allows owners of vehicles to put their vehicles on this site and then other people can rent it. So, it is a person-to-person rental via this website. So, that's what Turo is. And that owner did indeed confirm to our Casey Tolan that it was rented on that website. Two federal law enforcement officials do tell CNN that this truck did not belong to the suspect, suggesting that indeed it was rented. And one of the sources added that it was rented on a site used to rent out vehicles.

So, let's talk a little bit more about this vehicle. And the aerials that you're seeing there is an overhead shot of this Ford White Ford F-150 Lightning Electric Truck. It is registered to a Houston man who has worked for a car dealership where the vehicle was sold. And this is according to public records based on the vehicle's license plate records.

Now, the man tells CNN, again, the man who spoke with our Casey Tolan, does say that the vehicle was listed on Turo and he did not respond to additional questions about the suspect, how the rental occurred or any details about this truck.

We did reach out to Turo. Turo did not respond to additional questions about the rental or have any additional comments. But we do know that the site has now disabled the ability to rent this vehicle. It was available -- unavailable to rent until 12:30 p.m. Central time. Per the previous listing, Brianna, we did learn that the vehicle was listed as costing $105 a day. Brianna.

[13:20:00]

KEILAR: All right. Kyung, thank you so much for that information. And we are also hearing from witnesses to this attack whose New Year's celebrations were shattered by this tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were in the middle of the road and managed to run off the road onto the sidewalk and into the doorway of the building for cover. We stayed in the alcove until the gunfire stopped, came out into the street and came across a lot of -- several people who had been hit, wanted to see what we could do to help and administer first aid. The people we came across were unfortunately deceased.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Terrifying description there. Ryan Young is with us now reporting on this. Ryan, tell us about the victims, what we're learning about them, and what witnesses are saying.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's been a really hard day to go through some of these witness accounts, but also to search online. And of course, there's video that we'll never be able to show folks that is online right now of what this attack looked like. You can see mangled bodies everywhere. And of course, witnesses have talked about that.

Now, we're going to show you some video, it's blurred, but you can see the chaotic nature that is right there in front of us. And they were just people strewn everywhere, and folks from balconies were looking down. Some folks couldn't get out because obviously they were trying to keep them safe, but you can hear people screaming and yelling for help. You can also see people who are not responsive.

Pamela Brown did an interview about an hour and a half ago, and it was just gut-wrenching to listen to. There's one witness talk about what he saw. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY COTHRAN, WITNESS: I mean, just the disfigurement and the body's strewn, something you can't unsee. You'll never forget. Directly (INAUDIBLE) was definitely a mother twisted up, obviously deceased. One gentleman crushed, had tire tracks across his back. Once they rolled him over, he had tire tracks on his front. He was completely crushed. Another girl, young, small girl was dancing when we were coming up the street and she was just completely flat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Let's not forget, two New Orleans police officers were shot in this as well. They are in a stable condition. I was talking to an officer who was nearby the scene. They said there's -- never seen anything like this before. That this is totally shaking them to their core.

And then, when you just hear about all the bodies being lined up there as the city works to clear this scene and also take all the evidence, you understand this is going to shake people for quite some time. So many people want to know why, but at the same time, you know, there's been families that are going to be talking about this that have been ripped apart forever. Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, lives forever changed. Ryan Young, thank you for the report. Next, we'll speak with a city councilmember about how New Orleans is responding to this tragedy. We'll have that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:25:00]

KEILAR: This just in to CNN. The FBI has just identified the suspect in today's deadly crowd attack in New Orleans. Joining us now, we have CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid, along with Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez. Tell us about who they're saying did this, Evan.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, now we have an identity from the FBI. It's 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas, according to the FBI. And this all happened at about 3:15 local time, Central Time in New Orleans, there on Bourbon Street.

Now, one of the things that we're also learning from this new updated information from the FBI, they've confirmed earlier reporting that there was an ISIS flag that was found in the vehicle. And the FBI is obviously trying to determine, Brianna, at this hour what associations, had this person been talking to anybody associated with ISIS, how far back that radicalization may have started.

The other thing that is that is important here is that there were an IED that was found in the vehicle, in an ice chest inside the vehicle, but we also know that they are trying to disarm or render safe additional IEDs that were found elsewhere in the French Quarter. Again, that's new information that we are told. Again, the FBI is still working to try to determine whether the suspect may have placed those earlier or someone else may have done this before this attack was carried out.

KEILAR: So, can you tell us, are they still looking for devices? Have they identified them and not rendered them safe? Have they rendered some safe and they feel that are no more? It sounds like you're saying it's kind of in progress.

PEREZ: I mean, obviously they want to make sure they -- that's why one reason why they've closed the entire street because now they are going to go on foot and they're going to examine every part of Bourbon Street. That was you as -- you've been there. You know what a mess, especially after a big night of partying that street can be. So, you can imagine that police are going meticulously to check every single thing that was on the ground there. And so, that's what has happened in the last few hours, is that they found additional potential EIDs. And so, I don't know whether all of them have been rendered safe, but certainly, that's the work that is being done in progress by the FBI, that there were additional EIDs found in additional locations on Bourbon Street.

Now, the FBI also, in this additional statement, has put up -- has set up a tip line that I think it's important. They're trying to get people who may have seen something to try to call in tips, any pictures, anything that they may have seen --

[13:30:00]