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Investigators Search for Links Between New Orleans Attack And Las Vegas Blast; At Least 15 Killed In New Orleans After Driver Intentionally Rams Into Crowd on Bourbon Street; Tesla Cybertruck Explodes Outside Trump Las Vegas Hotel, Killing Driver; Police: At Least 15 Killed in New Orleans Terror Attack; Using Vehicles in Terror Attacks; Attack Raises Security Concerns Ahead of New Orleans Events. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired January 02, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world and streaming on CNN Max. I'm Paula Newton and we begin with breaking news in two separate attacks here in the United States on New Year's Day.

U.S. President Joe Biden says investigators are looking into whether there is any possible link between a ramming attack that killed dozens of people in New Orleans by a suspect with apparent ties to ISIS and a Tesla truck explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. Multiple law enforcement sources tell CNN the suspects in both incidents had military backgrounds.

Now first to New Orleans where the FBI is investigating the ramming attack in the historic French Quarter and investigating it as an act of terrorism. Police say at least 15 people were killed when the suspect drove his truck down Bourbon Street at a high rate of speed at about 3:00 a.m. local time. He's been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen and army veteran.

They say he made recordings on the drive from Texas to Louisiana about joining ISIS and killing his family. Now we want to warn viewers, much of the video from the scene is graphic. Police say they found an ISIS flag on Jabbar's truck along with improvised explosive devices which they believe were made at an Airbnb rental.

According to the FBI, a search is underway at a property linked to Jabbar in Houston, Texas. Video shows the white Ford F150 making a sharp turn onto Bourbon Street, past police barricades and onto the sidewalk. The driver continued down the street for several blocks, mowing down pedestrians.

Now two officers were wounded in the shootout that killed the suspect. More than 30 people were injured in that ramming attack. Authorities say they do not believe Jabbar acted alone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIZ MURRIL, LOUISIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL: We also have some people who are fighting for their lives right now in the hospital. This was a heinous act, a heinous, cowardly act. And we will find them and we will bring them to justice.

TROY CARTER, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: Right now the entire French Quarter, particularly Bourbon Street is an active crime scene. We have federal, local and state officials who are embedded in this community looking for additional evidence, looking to make sure that there's no IEDs. We know that there were at least two that were found and detonated without incident. And now what we have is a complete use of every resource.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: More now on the investigation and the fallout from the attack from CNN's Omar Jimenez, who's in New Orleans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sudden terror on Bourbon Street.

KIMBERLY STRICKLIN, WITNESS: There are just bodies and the screams. You can't think about, you know on here that it was chaos and very scary.

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The vehicle ran through a crowd of people. There's multiple injuries, multiple casualties. They need to canal in Bourbon.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): 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 15 people were killed, dozens others injured.

ANNE E. KIRKPATRICK, NEW ORLEANS POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: This is not just an act of terrorism. This is evil.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): The suspect identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old man from Texas who previously served in the U.S. military. He was allegedly driving a privately rented pickup truck from Turo, an Airbnb type rental site for cars.

ALETHEA DUNCAN, FBI ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: 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 (voice-over): 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.

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

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

LATOYA CANTRELL, NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA MAYOR: Bollards were not up because they are near completion.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): 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 (voice-over): 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 interest of everybody in public safety that we postpone the game for 24 hours.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Omar Jimenez, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: U.S. President Joe Biden says the suspect in the New Orleans attack was, quote, inspired by ISIS, especially the desire to kill. But the investigation still is in its preliminary stages, and he cautioned Americans against jumping to conclusions. Mr. Biden also promised the government's full support Tto the people of New Orleans.

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JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: To all the families of those who were killed, to all those who were injured, to all the people of New Orleans who are grieving today, I want you to know I grieve with you. Our nation grieves with you. We're going to stand with you as you mourn and as you heal in the weeks to come.

To all the families of those who are killed, to all those who are injured, to all the people of New Orleans who are grieving today, I want you to know I grieve with you. Our nation grieves with you. We're going to stand with you as you mourn and as you heal in the weeks to come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump released a statement. It read, in part, quote, our hearts are with all 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.

And we're also following developments out of Las Vegas, where a Tesla cybertruck exploded outside the Trump Hotel on Wednesday morning. Here's the moment police suspect either fireworks or some type of gas tank went off in the bed of the vehicle. The FBI is working to determine whether it was also an act of terrorism. Veronica Miracle has more on those details.

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VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Our John Miller is telling us he has spoken to multiple law enforcement officials who say that the driver of the cybertruck has a military background. Now, law enforcement officials say they know the name of this driver who died in the explosion, but they are not going to be releasing the identity of that driver until they notify the next of kin.

We understand that this driver was in Las Vegas for about an hour, driving around the Strip before pulling. Pulling up to Trump Tower before that explosion happened. And authorities say the driver rented the cybertruck in Colorado via the Turo app before driving down to Las Vegas.

Video released by law enforcement shows explosives that were contained inside the truck, which included fireworks, gas tanks, and camping fuel. And all of that was connected to a detonation system that was controlled by the driver.

And the sheriff pointed out, which is really incredible, how the cybertruck actually contained the explosion. The way that it was built forced the explosion to go upwards instead of outwards, which meant that the glass from Trump Tower was not broken. And seven people nearby were injured, but with minor injuries. All of them are OK. They've all been released from the hospital.

The driver did die. And Las Vegas police believe that this was an isolated incident. They are not yet willing to say if this was, in fact, connected to what happened in New Orleans. But it is quite unusual that both the drivers in these incidents rented their cars from Turo.

We do have a statement from Turo, and they said they're cooperating with these investigations, but they also said that neither of the drivers had criminal backgrounds, which would have flagged them as security threats. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: All right, I want to discuss all of this with Bobby Chacon. He is a retired FBI special agent and former leader of the FBI dive team. Good to have you with us as we continue to go through so many details here.

So there is a search underway, apparently at this hour, at a property that is connected to the suspect in the New Orleans attack. You know, what is so troubling is that so many who've talked to CNN about the suspect say that there was really no warning. Sure, he had, you know, some issues, some personal issues, some domestic issues.

But to go to this extreme, I mean, in terms of the kind of profile that the FBI is building of him right now, what do you think they're looking for?

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BOBBY CHACON, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well, I mean, they're going to build a profile from any kind of personal documents. He kept, diaries, journals, things like that online. Now, a lot of that stuff is online. Any type of messaging services that he put out, talk to people he may have talked to, one or two confidants where he's more revealing of himself. So they have a lot to look through.

They'll also talk to his friends, families, coworkers, army buddies and things like that. Maybe they'll find that one that he opened up to. And sometimes there is that one person, either in person or online. So they're going through all of that stuff to try to build this profile of who he was and really what brought him to the tipping point and pushed him to the point where he was going to basically commit suicide and take as many people with him if he has some kind of manifesto, what made him, you know, basically flip that switch and go into this, you know, homicidal rage.

NEWTON: You know, there is an open question still this hour about whether or not there's any evidence that there were accomplices. I mean, what do you think from everything you've heard in the last few hours?

CHACON: Well, I mean, I flipped on that. I mean, earlier today, I thought there were. When they came out with that statement about three men and a woman putting things down, and I thought, oh, my, you know, oh, my God, that this was a coordinated attack. Now they walk that back. So we don't know if there was other people.

I tend to think there might have been because of those devices being placed at separate places around the French Quarter. I don't see him planting them and then going back and getting in his car. I could be wrong. He could have done just that. But it's unusual to me if he did that because he would have had to leave those devices on the sidewalk for a long time.

In other words, plant them somewhere where no one's going to find them and then go and get in the car and pull off the attack. May have done that. I would find that unusual. That's why I'm less a believer in the. In the multiple people theory, but I'm still leaning slightly towards that side of it that there are people out there that help them do this.

NEWTON: And hopefully, one way or the other, we'll get clarity in the coming hours. The other thing that we're looking at is the connection, possible connection between what happened in Las Vegas and what happened in New Orleans. Now, look, this could all still be a coincidence, but we have two

people, both with military backgrounds. Both get a vehicle off of Turo, also both vehicles laden with some type of incendiary device. Right. Whether it's explosives, fireworks, or what else. What do you take from all the facts you've seen from both incidents?

CHACON: Well, I think that the things you just enumerated there kind of really intrigued me about this. But the two attacks were exactly opposite. They're mirror opposites of each other. In other words, in New Orleans, that guy was hell bent on having a body count. He drove through a crowd. He got out of his car when he couldn't drive it anymore and started shooting at people, including police officers. He was intent on killing as many people as possible.

In Vegas, he didn't want to kill people because he was going to detonate that thing in front of the Trump Tower. And if you see the video, there's nobody even standing near the truck when he detonates it.

And in Vegas, there's plenty of places if you wanted to kill people, to drive up on a sidewalk, say, in front of the Bellagio when people are looking at the fountains or somewhere else where there's a crowd, so that when that fireball went up, you would have killed a lot more people.

Any of the hotels that have a queue for taxis after a big show or something like that would have been a place he could have taken out a lot of people if that was his intent.

So the intent of the killer in New Orleans was not the same, almost opposite of the intent of the person who killed themselves in that Tesla truck in Vegas. Because I think it seems like, you know, the Tesla truck with Elon Musk's name and Trump Tower is much more of a political type statement to me. And the fact that he didn't want a big body count because if he wanted it in Vegas, he could have gotten it.

NEWTON: Yes. It's interesting the way you frame that, right, in the sense that despite the similarities we see, this could at the end of the day just be a coincidence. Before I let you go, Bobby, I do want to ask you about -- do you believe that there has been a sense of complacency about these kinds of attacks that set in not just in the United States, but beyond.

I mean, we did have Christopher Wray in March say that there was a heightened threat level of these kinds of terror attacks?

CHACON: Yes, and I think that always happens. I think that human nature, and you're right, Director Wray has been raising the flag on lone wolf attacks, in fact, just kind of similar to if this person in New Orleans turns out to be lone wolf. That's just exactly what the director was talking about.

And, yes, I think that human nature, complacency, the longer we go without an attack, the more complacent we get that not one's going to happen. Then one happens, and we're all on heightened alert for a while, and then for a while, no attacks happen, and then we get complacent. Again, I think that's human nature. I think that's something we have to fight against in law enforcement and especially event security. And hopefully, this is another wake up call. And so, you know, we take the steps that kind of avoid that kind of complacency.

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NEWTON: Yes. And I do say we have been speaking a lot about the details of the investigation. But Bobby, you know, obviously all of us thinking about those families and people still in the hospital at this hour in grave condition. Bobby Chacon, we will leave it there for now. Thanks so much.

CHACON: Thank you for having me.

NEWTON: Now, more on the Las Vegas truck explosion coming up this hour. But first, new details about the terror attack in New Orleans. What we know about the suspect in the New Year's Day attack. We'll have that next.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You hear the screech of tires and when I turn my head around, there's like a Yukon or Escalator, 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 up into the air and away and just are under the car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Such a disturbing and frightening account there from a witness to the new day's terror attack in New Orleans. At least 15 people were killed and dozens injured on Bourbon Street. Federal authorities say law enforcement are searching a Houston location they believe is connected to the suspected attacker, a U.S. citizen from Texas, an Army veteran. CNN's Kyung Lah reports on what we know about the suspect.

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KYING LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: The suspect behind the terror attack in New Orleans up until several years ago appeared to be quite normal, an army veteran who went to college and worked in real estate, and IT had started to have some financial troubles. He posted a YouTube video, though, as recently as four years ago, where he described that he had been born in Texas, that he was trying to get this real estate company off the ground. He identified himself as a veteran.

We want to play you a short clip of this, even though this video has been taken down, because it gives you a window into the background of this suspect.

SHAMSUD-DIN JABBAR, NEW ORLEANS ATTACK SUSPECT: So I'm born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, and now live in Houston. And I've been here all my life, with the exception of traveling for the military, where I spent 10 years as a human resources specialist.

LAH: You're looking at a picture from the U.S. Army. It comes from a 2013 U.S. Army Facebook post that identified him as an army staff sergeant working as an Information Technology Team Chief for the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team.

Now, looking online, he appeared to have very much a normal background. He went to college. He went to Georgia State University. The university confirms that he did graduate with a bachelor's degree. He worked in real estate in Texas for four years. And then things started to change. There are divorce records that show in 2012 from his first wife. She sued him to try to get child support.

And then in his second marriage, there was a filing that the suspect, the would be suspect, would eventually file, saying that he was tens of thousands of dollars in debt from his business, that he was at risk of foreclosure and that he had credit card debt. And that's why he was petitioning the judge to try to back out of some of those payments. Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Juliette Kayyem is a CNN senior national security analyst and former assistant secretary to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. And she joins us now from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Juliette, as always, we look to you to try and parse exactly what is critical about this investigation at this hour. So how significant would it be if authorities actually confirm that the alleged attacker did not act alone? What does that mean for national security going forward?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It's a big variable. And I think part of the confusion right now about sort of his and in fact the city status, is it safe to advance? Is it safe to have, say, the Sugar Bowl tomorrow night is what do we mean by his associates? And I think there was honestly some confusion earlier. Did it mean people who had planned with him, who had helped him put out IEDs or helped him manage and rent and do all the horrible things that he did?

Or was it people say on social media or others who may have known about the event but were not, you know, sort of, you know, aiding and abetting in the sense of making this more likely? And I think we still don't know the answer to this question.

I believe in the last couple hours, it is more likely that he is someone who got radicalized or may have been people online or elsewhere. Maybe he met people abroad who were pushing him, but that he acted alone. And that's why the city sort of is feeling more confident about saying, well, we can move forward. Just don't come to this area that had been attacked.

It's been a bit confusing over the last couple of hours. That's to be understood. But that's a big differential. There were a bunch of people planning a major terrorist attack in a U.S. city. It would suggest that there was foreign or international coordination and then the investigation would be much bigger.

NEWTON: Yes. And speaking of what the threat assessment could look like going forward, you know, of March -- in March of last year, a branch of ISIS killed at least 144 people at a concert hall in Moscow. You know, at the time, Christopher Wray, the FBI director, you know, he told Congress, look, there is potential for a coordinated attack in the United States.

Do you believe that those warnings should have been taken more seriously at the time in the sense that should there be an elevated threat level right now?

KAYYEM: Yes. And in some ways we always -- we sort of always exist under it and we focus them on events like New Year's Eve for these high profile events. Or think about Christmas villages in Germany. I mean, in a lot of ways, the way we've adapted, rather than being on DEFCON 1 all the time. Right. Always being nervous and worried is we do put more effort, safety and security effort into these high profile mass events.

And that's what's surprising about this. And those of us who know New Orleans know that Mayor Landrieu, several years back, the former mayor had looked at what was happening in Europe.

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What had happened in Berlin, what had happened in France, and with these terrorist attacks using vehicles and had put up sort of more security on Bourbon Street, which is really exists, you know, for the party atmosphere. It's a residential area, but for those of those who have not been there, it is -- it's sort of where everyone goes to walk on the streets. And there was a lot of security.

There is a question now about whether some of that security was undermined or maybe minimized because of upgrades they were trying to do and whether replacements were not satisfactory enough for -- to stop like this.

NEWTON: It is always sad in the sense that when you look at hindsight, everyone realizes, OK, you know, perhaps there's something else we could have done.

I do want to talk about what happened in Las Vegas, right that side cybertruck --

KAYYEM: Yes.

NEWTON: -- the Tesla truck in front of the Trump Hotel. What stands out to you about that? I guess an alleged attack. We still don't know exactly what it is and if it's linked to the -- what to what happened in New Orleans.

KAYYEM: I think given the timing, there will have to be an investigation about their linkages and any coincidences between the narratives of the perpetrators, U.S. citizens, military background, as well as the how they rented the vehicles that ended up being the sort of weapons of mass destruction.

But I looked at that one and I think the evidence at least from Las Vegas is suggesting, you know, when you sort of, it's Elon Musk and Donald Trump, two people -- two high profile people now controversial to many people, who someone seemed to want to make a statement and harm others in that statement, that's not legitimate. That's not a legitimate form of any kind of protest.

And I think that's what we will find is that ideological connection really is related to the Elon Musk, Donald Trump connection, therefore the use of a cybertruck rather than say something larger like an ISIS connection. But the Las Vegas Police were pretty confident in trying to assure people. They viewed this as a very isolated incident.

NEWTON: It is kind of chilling though to think about what we may face in the year to come. And I mean, one hopes that it's not what we're facing. But when you look at the threat assessment, especially considering that authorities in October have charged an Afghan national who was allegedly plotting a terrorist attack in support of ISIS for election day, what does all of this tell you when we put together the intelligence combined with what have been two, you know, very heartbreaking events.

KAYYEN: Right. There's going to be the organized threat we -- that we've known and worried about from abroad. Terrorist organizations, organizations that are supported by foreign country enemies either through physical means or cyber means, which can have a physical impact. There's also going to be people who are radicalized by those elements who have a certain ideology that then becomes violent. Right. And that is something in which, you know, our intelligence agencies are on the watch out for. That's why it's important to share intelligence with other countries.

We then have a domestic threat, so they're not mutually exclusive. We have a domestic threat in which people are utilizing violence as a part of our political narrative, whether it's assassination attempts on Donald Trump or it is right-wing violence. And all exist. I say, you know, there's all of the above is the solution. One is getting politicians to lower the temperature about language.

It is intelligence and law enforcement efforts to denigrate terrorist groups. But it also is communities coming forward. In a lot of these instances, as I'm sure we will determine in these two instances today, there will be people who say, he seemed to be acting differently. He was talking about doing something violent, whatever. We often find in these cases that we really are dependent on a community coming forward and disclosing their concerns about an individual.

NEWTON: Yes. And we certainly hope we learn more about this going forward to put people's minds at ease because this is truly an attack on our way of life and our freedoms.

KAYYEM: Yes.

NEWTON: And we can't miss the point, no matter, you know, what the incident is. Juliette Kayyem, thanks again. Appreciate it.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

NEWTON: Now new details are emerging about the New Orleans terror suspect. What we're learning about his background and the video recordings he made before the attack. We'll have that next.

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[01:33:24]

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) we have damage the people that got hit by this car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have at least six casualties. I have an officer doing chest compressions on one. I have another white male that's got agonal breathing in the 200 block.

Multiple casualties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Just horrific. Those are police scanners picking up panicked calls from first responders after the New Year's Day terror attack in New Orleans.

Now a warning, some of the images you are about to see are graphic.

This was the scene just minutes after the truck-ramming attack in the famous Bourbon Street. Dozens of people were wounded and we blurred those images.

The suspect used a rented Ford pickup. Authorities say it contained potential improvised explosive devices, as well as an ISIS flag.

This is the driver, 42-year-old Shamsud-din Jabbar, a U.S. Army veteran and American citizen from Texas. He was killed after opening fire on local law enforcement.

The FBI says authorities are now aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates.

A U.S. senator from Louisiana demanded the federal government be transparent with the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I will promise you this. I will -- when it is appropriate and this investigation is complete, you will find out what happened and who was responsible. Or I will raise fresh hell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:34:53]

NEWTON: Investigators have been interviewing people who knew the subject -- the suspect, pardon me -- that's hoping to get more information about him and, of course, possible accomplices.

CNN's Evan Perez has the latest now about the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The FBI is working to determine whether anyone else was involved in the attack that killed at least 15 people early on New Year's Day on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

An army veteran from Texas maneuvered a rented pickup truck around a police car that was intended to block access to the street. The attack injured dozens of people, and the FBI is treating it as a terrorism investigation.

Investigators found an ISIS flag, as well as writings with the suspect, Shamsud-din Jabbar. This evidence, along with recordings he is believed to have made recently indicated allegiance to ISIS, according to investigators.

Authorities also detonated several suspected improvised explosives in the truck and nearby. Investigators spent the day at the large crime scene in the French Quarter, as well as working to conduct searches at other locations associated with the suspect.

This includes a rental home nearby, where the suspect is believed to have spent the recent days before carrying out the attack, as well as another home in the Houston area where the suspect is thought to have lived.

They've also spent the day talking to people who knew the suspect. And so far haven't identified anyone who helped him or who knew of his plans to carry out the attack.

The FBI is still continuing to ask the public for help to share video or tips if they've seen the suspect in recent days and weeks.

Evan Perez, CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: We now want to bring in Sean Keenan. He is a freelance journalist for "The New York Times" who interviewed the suspect for his college newspaper in 2015. I want to thank you for joining us.

And can you just let us in on what the circumstances were? I know this was nearly a decade ago now, but you did meet him. What were you interviewing him about and what was he like? SEAN KEENAN, FREELANCE JOURNALIST, "NEW YORK TIMES": Yes. Thank you for having me, Paula.

I mean, this began like any other story, which was just, you know, somebody whispers in my ear, I'm having difficulty navigating, you know, whatever government system it may be. In this case, it was students reaching out saying, we're having trouble getting our Veterans Affairs benefits that we are owed through the GI bill.

And admittedly, you know, ten years later, I don't fully remember how I got connected to Shamsud-din Jabbar. I believe it may have been through the Georgia State Student Government Association.

But we just discussed what it was like for him acclimating to civilian life and to college life, no less after military service.

So I've gone through all my notes. I've been desperately trying to find the original recording of the interview, but frankly, my entire relationship with the New Orleans attack suspect was limited to probably a 30-minute interview.

NEWTON: But in that interview, what did he speak to you about? I mean, listen, it is accepted that a lot of people in the military have trouble adapting when they come back home.

KEENAN: Yes, absolutely. So there were two main issues that he was having while trying to negotiate veterans benefits.

First was his issues with communicating. I think a lot of military service people, they, you know, learn a certain jargon, they adopt a lexicon that is pretty exclusive to the environments that they're in, whether it's in basic training or combat zones or anywhere else.

And he found it difficult to not only go through college speaking with his professors, but also he worried about trying to get a job after college and just still having these communicative issues.

The other thing that frustrated him was this sort of labyrinthine nature of the VA programs, and how you're supposed to, you know, file different pieces of paperwork in order to collect benefits.

And, you know, he was fortunate that he had some help from Georgia State University. They have an office over there that is specifically dedicated to helping students work through that labyrinth.

But he lamented that a single missing piece of paperwork or a missed signature could just have you slip through the cracks. Have you missing a check that you may direly depend on.

NEWTON: Yes. It is incredibly frustrating and yet mundane and part of everyday life for so many people.

[01:39:45]

NEWTON: When you think about it now, when you had heard that, you know, this is the suspect in this attack, does it square in any way, shape or form? I mean, you must have been stunned when you heard.

KEENAN: Oh, yes. You know, I was just lounging on the couch having, I think, the New Year's Day that a lot of Americans expect. And an "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" reporter Joseph Papp (ph) reached out to me on Twitter and said, did you write this story in 2015? I said, sure. Why? What does it matter?

He said that that could be the suspect, and my head was spinning. And I, you know, what little I remember about that interview was a very cool, calm and collected guy. Like he -- nothing about his character threw any red flags, which I think is reflective of what a lot of us are hearing while we're covering this story.

I mean, a lot of my colleagues at "The New York Times" talked to family and friends, and they're telling you, this was a wild 180.

So no, what I remember about the interview with him was his pretty reserved demeanor. He was a little bit distant in the way that, you know, you sometimes see from veterans who, you know, have had difficult deployments.

And I, interestingly enough, remember his eyes, which is actually how we confirmed the story, confirmed that this was the same guy after the FBI published the photograph of him. I realized, like, yes, that's the guy I sat down with.

And I've been getting a lot of calls from family and friends today asking like, you know, how does it feel? And frankly, I'm still processing it all. It's been a whirlwind of a day.

NEWTON: It is incredibly disturbing, especially because, as you said, so many of us who've interviewed veterans, whether it be in Afghanistan or back home, there is a real difficulty trying to adjust to life back home.

And from all intents and purposes, this man seemed to have done a very good job in terms of like you said, he had it together. He was going to school.

Sean Keenan, we will leave it there for now. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

KEENAN: Yes. Thank you for having me.

NEWTON: Now the attack in New Orleans is similar to several recent terror attacks that use vehicles to kill and inflict damage. We'll have a report after the break.

[01:42:08]

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NEWTON: Let's get you right up to speed with two breaking news stories in the U.S.

A horrific terrorist attack during New Year celebrations in New Orleans and an explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas a few hours later.

In New Orleans, officials say at least 15 people were killed after a man drove a pickup into a crowd celebrating the New Year Wednesday morning. Dozens of others were injured.

Officials say the suspect is a U.S. Army veteran who was killed at the scene in a firefight with police. They say the posted videos say he joined ISIS.

And in Las Vegas, one person was found dead inside the cyber truck that blew up Wednesday morning. Seven people were injured. Officials believe the driver also had a military background.

Now, the vehicles used in both the New Orleans and Las Vegas attacks were rented from the same online platform.

Now, the attacker used a truck as a weapon against people on a crowded street that's very popular with tourists in New Orleans.

As CNN's Brian Todd reports, using vehicles in terror attacks have become common in recent years. And a warning, some of the video you're about to see is disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One witness to the New Orleans attack says she can't unhear the screams of the victims.

KIMBERLY STRICKLIN, WITNESSED NEW ORLEANS ATTACK: I remember the screeching and him gunning the car and the impact and the screams, Like I said, the screams of those girls.

I mean, I don't know that I'll be able to forget that.

TODD: The kind of horror that many cities have experienced in recent years when attackers turn vehicles into weapons.

Just a few days before this Christmas, a car slams into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany killing at least five people, injuring more than 200. The suspect, a doctor originally from Saudi Arabia who had expressed anti-Muslim far right views.

Like Magdeburg and New Orleans, other cities have experienced horrific vehicle attacks during holidays.

November 2021, a suspect with a long criminal history drives an SUV through the annual Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin killing six and injuring more than 60.

Berlin, December 2016 a tractor trailer rams into a crowd at a bustling Christmas market, killing at least 12 people, injuring dozens of others. The suspect, a rejected asylum seeker, was later killed in a shootout with police in Italy.

And the deadliest vehicle attack ever. July 14th, 2016 Bastille Day in Nice, France. A Tunisian-born French resident drives a 20-ton truck nearly a mile through a crowded seaside promenade. 86 people killed, more than 200 others wounded. ISIS claimed responsibility.

Why do these vehicle attacks often seem more deadly than other tactics?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: A vehicle attack doesn't require any special training. You just rent a vehicle, buy a vehicle and use it as a weapon.

Secondly, just like school shooters, look at Columbine or other famous school shootings and kind of obsess about them and terrorists examine other terrorists and they say, well, what worked. Clearly vehicle rammings work.

TODD: October 2017, an Islamic extremist from Uzbekistan jumps a curb in a rental truck in Manhattan, drives down a bicycle path along the west side highway and kills eight people. Authorities found a note near the truck claiming the attack was in the name of ISIS.

A couple of months earlier, a domestic extremist, a white nationalist, slammed his vehicle into a crowd of counter-protesters at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one woman and injuring almost 20 others.

Analyst Peter Bergen says vehicle attacks with their bloodcurdling optics have a distinct psychological impact.

BERGEN: Certainly there is a short-term effect where it terrorizes people. People are worried about going out in places where there are a lot of people gathered.

TODD: Security analysts say one somewhat common characteristic of these vehicle attacks is that many of them took place in cities where tourism is a key part of the local economy.

[01:49:51]

TODD: One official with the New Orleans Tourism Association says it's too early to tell what effect this attack will have on tourism in that city, which was still trying to recover from tourism declines stemming from the COVID pandemic and even from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: And we'll be back with more in a moment.

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NEWTON: The deadly terror attack in New Orleans raises new questions about security as the city prepares to host hundreds of thousands of visitors in the coming weeks for several large events.

CNN's Tom Foreman has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, this truck was coming down Canal Street here, the widest main street in America. It turns in here. 3:30 in the morning at a time the New Year, the Sugar Bowl, all of this happening, Bourbon street, end to end, typically is just packed with people.

This is where the attack seemed to begin in the sense of people being hit. But really the truck, if you look at the pictures, didn't seem to stop until about here.

If it had continued up into here, there would have been -- I can't imagine the count of people who would have died in that circumstance. It hit that large red crane type device and stopped.

[01:54:49]

FOREMAN: Nonetheless, this is one of the reasons that we need clarity on whether or not people can simply grieve this terrible event and look for answers, or whether they need to be concerned about somebody else being out there.

Because look at all the other areas so close by -- Jackson Square, Cafe Du Monde, right down here, so many people have visited. It's right up in here. So many people have visited that. That's merely blocks away.

Preservation Hall, a great tourist attraction. Pat O'Brien's bar. So many young people go through there. Canal Street over here, we mentioned, huge.

A lot of Mardi Gras parades there. They had a parade for the Sugar Bowl in this area just before this all happened. And of course, the Superdome right over here.

You could walk from here all the way over here to Jackson Square in 30 minutes easily in a very relaxed fashion. And this is a town that has lots and lots of people around it, and they've taken security seriously.

They've been aware of threats. There are very serious questions now as to what maybe wasn't done right here.

First of all, we have the Sugar Bowl. That's happening right now. 75,000 people may be inside the Superdome, maybe more. Watch parties all over town.

Mardi gras technically starts next Monday with the first parade that will go on for about two months. About a million people will come to town for that jazz fest will get a half million or more in town. That's coming up a little bit later this spring.

The Super Bowl, in just a little over a month. These are huge events, all of which, if there is a threat out there, are all in a position of having to be concerned about it.

And in fact, the NFL put out a tweet saying deeply saddened by the news of this devastating event in New Orleans. Thoughts are with the victims, the community and all those involved.

And the NFL and the local host committee have been working collaboratively with local, state and federal agencies the past two years to develop a comprehensive security plan. They will go through with that plan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: That was Tom Foreman there.

We want to thank you for your company this hour. I'm Paula Newton.

I'll be back with more news after a short break.

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