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FBI: Believe Cybertruck Driver Identified, Waiting For DNA Results; FBI: We Do Not Believe Anyone Else Involved In New Orleans Attack & IEDs Recovered in Bourbon Street Area; CNN Exclusive: Doorbell Cam Captured NOLA Attacker Outside Airbnb Rental; Bourbon Street Reopens After Deadly Vehicle Attack; Remembering Victims Of The New Orleans Attack; Jean-Paul Morrell, (D), New Orleans City Councilmember-At-Large, Discusses Bourbon Street Reopening, 2 IEDS Found in Bourbon Street Area, FBI Investigation Into Attack. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired January 02, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: They'll do a deep dive into all of his acquaintances on the base in Germany, and then his travels outside the base.

You know, they will do -- they will do everything they can to determine who he was meeting with, what kind of ideology he -- he subscribed to, and -- and what the underlying factors are here.

This is a very wide investigation, and it's going to take a while to get to the facts.

But I do like what the sheriff had to say. They're not going to release anything until they are completely positive of the information. And I think that's something we need right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And lastly, Ed, guns purchased on December 30th for an attack carried out January 1st. Can you deduce anything from that?

DAVIS: Spur-of-the-moment planning. You know, possibly just got this overwhelming desire and put together an impromptu plan, did not connect up the explosive material and flammable material in a way that would create as much damage as -- as it could.

And using, you know, off the - off-the-shelf explosives, fireworks and things, it just it just is very disorganized. And I think that they -- it shows -- it just shows to me a mind that isn't working logically.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The fact that he drives into the -- into the driveway, leaves, comes back an hour later, again, tells you somebody who is still refining -- I think what Ed is saying is exactly right. It's he's refining at this point what exactly he wants to carry out.

KEILAR: Evan, Ed, thank you so much. Obviously, a lot of questions brought up in that press conference as well. So we'll be looking for more information.

Ahead, Anderson Cooper is live from New Orleans. These are live pictures of Bourbon Street, which opened just moments ago. Stay with us for the latest on that deadly attack.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:36:21]

KEILAR: And on our breaking news out of New Orleans now, the FBI says it believes the Army veteran from Texas, who intentionally rammed a truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street, acted alone.

They say three phones and two laptops linked to the driver have been found. And that FBI bomb technicians recovered two improvised explosive devices in the Bourbon Street area.

And this is coming as we're getting some new surveillance video of the attack. It shows a harrowing moment here.

Just before, you see there, people barely getting out of the way of the truck. It's unbelievable. And so thankful that they we're able to get out of the way as that truck sped through the French Quarter.

CNN Anchor Anderson Cooper is live on the scene in New Orleans.

Anderson, what more details are you learning at this hour?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, well, we have just seen and has exclusively obtained actually video of the -- the terror attacker.

This -- I want to show you this is taken from a doorbell cam of -- on a street where the attacker who you see there off to the right with the vehicle that he used in the attack, that is him arriving at and entering an Airbnb that he had rented about two miles from the Bourbon Street location, where he, according to law enforcement, conducted this this terror attack.

That is the vehicle that we know came -- it was rented in Houston. He rented it on December 30th. The FBI said today at a press conference they had several hours ago, he then drove it New Years Eve. And while driving, made about five videos in which he spoke to camera, according to the FBI.

They recounted a little bit about what he said. He said that he had -- you know, they were sharing the timeline. He rented the truck, drove it to Houston between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m.

He's seen now on videos planting explosive devices. Two explosive devices, according to the FBI, were found about, or in the area of -- of the French Quarter that initially they had thought maybe other people had planted.

They have confirmed today, they said, at this point, they believe no one else was involved in the attack here in Bourbon Street on the ground, actually planting those -- those explosive devices. They were -- both those devices we're found and detonated safely.

That is a picture of the actual vehicle. And you see it. It's the same vehicle that's in that security camera. This is after the attack.

What you're not seeing there is that there's actually a person on the right hand side, lower right hand side of the screen, which we're not showing, a person who was injured.

And you know, we are still now learning a lot more about those whose lives we're lost, about the people who we're wounded. Fourteen people now confirmed dead, as many as 35 sustained injuries, a number of them are still in the hospital.

I want to play some -- let you hear from the FBI agent in charge of this operation. Some of what they have found from the phones and laptops that they have obtained.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISOPHER RAIA, DEPUTY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI COUNTERTERRORISM DIVISION: Hundreds of interviews that we've conducted so far, the social media, the social media review that we've done of his accounts, the -- the -- what we, by my count now, the five devices, we have, the three cell phones and the two laptops.

[14:40:01]

Been able to initially triage or go through that and there is just nothing to indicate, through call records, through anything on those devices, through interviews, through anything in our systems that he was aided --aided -- aided in this attack by anybody.

And again, I have to caveat, like the governor said, this is 24 hours into it and that could change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: So that was the -- the press conference the FBI gave about two hours ago or so. They are still eager for any information that anybody has out there about this person.

They are trying to build a timeline of the radicalization of this person. The -- the disintegration of this person. According to family members, he had started to be erratic.

And according to the FBI, Brianna, he had pledged allegiance or joined to -- if one can actually join in some physical way, ISIS or at least pledged allegiance earlier, before the summer.

KEILAR: And, Anderson, what a different scene behind you now. I'm just struck by that. There are so many people. There's just the din of the French Quarter with the reopening.

COOPER: Yes. It's interesting, about an hour ago, about an hour and a half ago, a first-line band came down the street with city officials playing music. We ran out, we -- and watched it. It was actually a very moving scene, this extraordinary band playing music.

The officials in the city wanted first to open Bourbon Street to -- to religious leaders. So they've also had a lot of preachers here doing prayer circles. We've seen, saying prayers. And also music, which obviously is such a key part of -- of New Orleans.

And then they closed the street down a little bit. It's all cleaned up. And now they've opened it to the public. And as you see, there are -- it's not obviously incredibly crowded, but there are dozens and dozens of people wandering -- walking up and down, just wanting to come here.

Businesses have opened, the bars have opened. There's some music playing in a couple of bars down the street. The -- you know, the frozen drinks that are like purple and pink, they are in the slushy machines going around.

So it is very important for city officials -- I talked to the superintendent of police just a short time ago, we ran into her on the street -- to get this street back up and running.

Not just, not from a business standpoint, so much as just a statement about this city and the spirit of this city and the desire to -- to have the city not be, you know, on bended knee.

This city has gone through so much with Katrina. I was here. It's crazy, Brianna. I was here almost 20 years ago when Bourbon Street first reopened after Hurricane Katrina.

I remember it. City officials walked down the street, making it the official opening of it. And I remember the first bar that opened.

So it's very strange to be back here 19 years later and see Bourbon Street once again reopening after a tragedy.

KEILAR: Yes, wanting to come back from a tragedy. And we heard that from people at the Superdome as they're getting ready for the Sugar Bowl. They don't want to let terrorism win here. They are dedicated to showing up for the game as well.

Anderson, thank you so much for sharing that with us. We do appreciate it, live there in the French Quarter.

And coming up, with three major events on the horizon, New Orleans is now working to figure out how to protect its citizens and visitors.

[14:43:38]

You see it on display here outside of the Superdome. You just saw it there, where Anderson is in the French Quarter. We are going to speak with a city councilmember, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:48:16] KEILAR: We are learning more about some of the victims in the tragic New Years Day attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people and injured dozens of others.

Among them, 27-year-old Tiger Bech. The former Princeton football player had been working as a junior trader in New York City and was visiting home for the holidays.

He was walking back to his hotel with his best friend when the unimaginable happened. His sister told CNN that Bech's last message was sent to a family group chat, wishing everyone a Happy New Year just hours before he was killed.

Bech's best friend, Ryan Quigley, remains in the hospital in stable condition.

And 37-year-old Reggie Hunter was a father of two, known for his sense of humor and his deep love for his family. He was a native of Baton Rouge, and he had been out with a cousin on Bourbon Street when the tragedy struck. He leaves behind an 11-year-old and a one-year-old child.

Among some of the youngest victims, 21-year-old Hubert Gauthreaux. His former high school confirming his death today and asking for prayers in his name.

Auburn University confirming the death of Drew Dauphin, who had just graduated from the school in 2023.

And the University of Alabama, also confirming the death of one of its students, Kareem Badawi, who had just graduated high school last year.

Joining me now is New Orleans councilmember-at-large, J.P. Morrell.

J.P. we're still learning about the victims. So many people with so much life ahead of them. And we're trying to figure out how this attack could have happened.

What do you think about the reopening of Bourbon Street, as we're still trying to grapple with that?

[14:50:00]

JEAN-PAUL MORRELL, (D), NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCILMEMBER-AT-LARGE: I think it's difficult, but it's necessary. Similar to what Anderson said previously.

When you have these types of incidents, when you have a terrorist attack, for example, on the city of New Orleans, if you don't -- if you stop living and you stop doing the things which make this city great and make the city special, and you kind of give in to the -- the terrorist desires to have people paralyzed with -- with fear and remorse and sadness, than they win.

And I mean, it doesn't mean that we're not going to continue to mourn. I mean, in this city right now, we are in a state of mourning. So many of the people that were injured or died were visitors or residents of the city.

And we grieve with them and we grieve with their families and as well as supporting those people who have not died but have a long recovery ahead of them.

But you can't let the terrorists win by just being paralyzed in the wake of an attack like this.

KEILAR: And you know, you and I have been talking repeatedly. We talked early yesterday. We talked very late last night. We're talking again today.

Things have changed a little. It seemed last night that it was coming into clarity that this may actually have been a lone wolf attack and that there were not co-perpetrators of it.

That is what the FBI is now saying today. What did you think about learning that?

MORRELL: Well, I mean, it -- through a lot of reporting as well, it became pretty evident around the late hours of last night, early this morning, that these packages, these other IEDs, were tied to the original attacker in some way. And obviously, we found out today that they were, in fact, placed by him.

I mean, it was -- it was mixed. I mean, obviously, everyone is happy, if you could call it happy, that this was not a coordinated attack with multiple assailants still at large in the city of New Orleans.

But on the other hand, part of what caused the confusion, Brianna -- and that was in the press conference as well, as well as our briefings -- is that there were people who saw these packages and kind of prodded them and looked in them.

And what's kind of jarring is that we've all grown up in an America post-9/11 TSA, if you see something, say something. And this was an instance in which these -- these improvised devices are incredibly suspicious.

And the fact that there weren't people out there who, when they saw these - these -- these devices, which looked very, very suspicious, middle of the street, there were literally police officers on every corner of the French Quarter last night - sorry -- yesterday morning.

KEILAR: Yes.

MORRELL: I mean, it's part of what led the wild goose chase was because they thought the people interacting with these were coconspirators, because who else would kind of play with an IED?

KEILAR: Well, OK.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: But let's talk

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Let's talk about that, J.P., because, as we understand it, these appeared to have been in coolers, I think, right? And this is -- you know --

MORRELL: Right.

KEILAR: -- this is party time central in the French Quarter.

And as we understand it, you know, there's an expectation there may have been people thinking, oh, what's in that cooler? Because what are people doing around this time? They're engaged in revelry. There does tend to be beverages and coolers. That's sort of the vibe.

And maybe that was part of the plan, I mean, do you think, of -- there is surveillance footage capturing Jabbar planting these around 1:00 and 2:00 a.m.

I guess, what are the lessons learned, not just of civilians, who I think it might be natural for them to open up a cooler and say, hey, is there a beer in there? What's the lesson learned when it comes to law enforcement as well?

MORRELL: Well, I mean, obviously, to the second part of that point, the fact that we have police officers in every corner and they overlooked it is also a problem.

I mean, generally speaking, when you look at a lot of the lessons we've learned today, I mean, we found out from the FBI today, this individual, this terrorist who was driving from Houston, was basically live-streaming throughout this process, making repeated uploads to social media that he intended to do what he did.

I mean, I think what we're going to find and what we're beginning to find is kind of a cascade of failures and missed opportunities, whether those be at the highest levels or at the lowest levels.

And really, I think what I'm looking at, as a councilmember accountable to my constituents, the people of the city who are struggling in the wake of this -- of this, of this attack, is we need to find answers.

We need to find out what we did wrong on every level, and we have to account for it and move forward from it.

And I mean, on -- like I said, on one hand, there's information you hear that goes, well, that's -- that's actually better than I thought. This information you hear, like I said, whether it's the coolers or whether it's the fact that this guy was on social media saying what he was going to do.

[14:55:00]

These are real things that you would think, in this day and age, with all the technology we have with -- obviously, we've had privacy concerns across the nation, how much privacy we have on social media platforms. This guy was actually on platforms posting this stuff.

KEILAR: Yes.

MORRELL: I mean, it's just -- it's a lot. And I mean, in the wake of this kind of -- this kind of horrific event, when people are looking for answers, some of the answers lead to greater questions.

And I mean, that's going to continue to be what we face in the city. We have to get through Sugar Bowl today. We prepare for a Superbowl in a month.

And these questions have to be answered. And these problems have to be addressed, post haste. Because an even larger event is on the horizon and we have to be prepared for it as well.

KEILAR: Yes. And Mardi Gras. It's a lot happening in New Orleans here in the coming weeks.

Right now, authorities say they've recovered these three phones and two laptops. There's a question about -- and I wonder if maybe you know if authorities have any idea of this, if this guy was inspired, self-radicalized by ISIS or if he may have actually been in touch with an ISIS recruiter.

Do you know if officials have any indication of that?

MORRELL: I have no confirmation. But from the conversations I have had, they are at least convinced that he was self-radicalized to some degree and that he found their video and their footage.

Because, as you know, they produce it in multiple languages, trying to convince people to join ISIS and believe their behavior.

They are -- they are diligently hunting to see if they're direct contacts. And that's part of why you're seeing this huge outreach to trying to find people who were in communication with him.

There was this period after his divorce and after his bankruptcy where he was living in a trailer park or something, where they're trying to figure out what he was doing during that period, which is why they're doing so much investigation.

But its -- it's terrifying to think that even years later, after ISIS was at its height, as far as public awareness, it's still radicalizing people this degree to do events as awful as this.

KEILAR: Yes, hugely, hugely alarming.

Councilmember Morrell, thank you so much again for being with us. We do appreciate your time.

MORRELL: Thank you.

KEILAR: And coming up, we are now just a little over an hour away from the start of the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, where officials are assuring football fans that they will be safe, as we get new details about the suspect. We're going to take you there live, next.

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