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At Least 15 Killed in New Orleans Terror Attack; FBI Investigating Tesla Cybertruck Blast Near Trump Tower; Germany's Celebrations Marred by Fireworks Mishaps, 5 Killed. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired January 02, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Christina Macfarlane. It's Thursday January 2nd, 9 a.m. here in London, 3 a.m. in New Orleans and 1 a.m. in Las Vegas.

We begin with breaking news in two separate New Year's Day attacks in the United States. President Joe Biden says investigators are looking into whether there is any possible link between a ramming attack that killed more than a dozen people in New Orleans by a suspect with apparent ties to ISIS and a Tesla truck explosion outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas. Multiple law enforcement sources tell CNN the suspects in both incidents had military backgrounds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF KEVIN MCMAHILL, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: Do I think it's a coincidence? I don't know but what I can tell you is we're absolutely investigating any connectivity to what happened in New Orleans as well as other attacks that have been occurring around the world. We're not ruling anything out yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well first to New Orleans where police say at least 15 people were killed more than 30 others injured when a man drove his truck down a crowded Bourbon Street early Wednesday. Investigators say he had an ISIS flag and improvised explosive devices in the truck. A congressional aide tells CNN lawmakers in Washington will get an unclassified briefing today from the FBI. The incident is being investigated as a terror attack.

The suspect has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen and army veteran. He was killed in a shootout with police.

Investigators say he made recordings on the drive from Texas to Louisiana about joining ISIS and killing his family. One witness described the scene on Bourbon Street on Wednesday morning.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: The FBI says searches are underway in multiple states connected to Jabbar. The suspect posted this video on YouTube several years ago after leaving the army.

SHAMSUD-DIN JABBAR, 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.

MACFARLANE: Authorities say they do not believe Jabbar acted alone and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are vowing to get answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TROY CARTER (D-LA): And for those who may have played a role in this horrific act of cowardice we will find you.

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I will promise you this I will when, 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)

MACFARLANE: And we're starting to learn the identities of some of the victims of the New Orleans terror attack. A school in Florida says two recent graduates Elle Eisele and Steele Idelson both 19-years-old are among the injured.

27-year-old Tiger Bech originally from Lafayette Louisiana was killed. His sister says he was a former Princeton University football player who was visiting New Orleans for the holidays with a friend.

37-year-old Reggie Hunter from Baton Rouge Louisiana was also killed. His cousin says he leaves behind two children ages 11 and one. Hunter had messaged Happy New Year to his family just hours before the attack took place.

More now on the investigation and the fallout from the attack from CNN's Omar Jimenez 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 cannot think about, you know, unhear that. It was chaos and very, very scary.

ZION PARSONS, WITNESS: Everything in the car is hitting it's getting thrown.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A vehicle ran through a crowd of people there's multiple injuries multiple casualties. They need you at Canal and Bourbon.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Just hours after the clock struck midnight the driver and 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.

[04:05:00]

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 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.

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 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.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well U.S. President Joe Biden is promising the federal government's full support to the people of New Orleans. He says he's mourning with the city and will do everything possible to support the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I directed my team to make sure every resource, every resource is made available to federal state and local law enforcement to complete the investigation in New Orleans quickly and to make sure there is no remaining threat to the American people.

The law enforcement and intelligence community continue to look for any connections associations or co-conspirators. We have nothing additional reported this time.

The investigation is continuing to be active and no one should jump to conclusions. The FBI also reported to me that mere hours before the attack he posted videos on social media indicating that he's inspired by ISIS expressing a desire to kill, desire to kill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well 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.

Join me to discuss, CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson's rejoining me.

So, Nic, we know these investigations are underway there's not much concrete we can say right now. But with regard to the deadly attack itself, I mean, it does seem to bear the hallmarks of an ISIS attack when we look at the location the timing the motive. What will the authorities be looking for at the multiple searches underway right now?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: They're going to want to make sure in the immediate aftermath that there's no immediate follow-on attack in that vicinity. And it does seem that they've found some IEDs homemade explosive devices. So they'll want to know did he make them himself or was there somebody making them with him. It seems that the authorities have found a location, a house, a rental, an Airbnb in New Orleans where they believe that these explosives were made. Was there somebody else renting that with him or did he rent it in his own name?

So these are some of the immediate questions. Is there another attack in that area to come? Then the next one, are there associates that he was talking to by phone, online, by other means that could be preparing their own attacks in other parts of the United States? So sort of as a follow-on from this. So that will be another immediate concern. And I think we're seeing that reflected in the fact that the sporting events that were planned in New Orleans has sort of been given a slight delay. That will allow the police to sort of give some level, a measure of certainty about safety there.

But then you get to the next big issue which is who was supporting him more broadly? Have they gone to ground if they're not planning something else? Can the police get to them? So looking for a potentially a bigger network because as we've heard they believe he wasn't acting alone.

MACFARLANE: And what do we know really about the mental state of this individual because we've heard that there were recordings released on the drive that he made from Texas to Louisiana talking about joining ISIS about killing his family in fact.

ROBERTSON: Yes, killing his family and then deciding to join ISIS and this is the sort of statement you're getting from somebody who knows that they're essentially going on a suicide mission. That they know that they're not going to be able to speak after the event.

[04:10:00]

ROBERTSON: So he's sort of, you know, he's saying this is in the name of ISIS, and I think every law enforcement office, every intelligence expert would say you cannot overlook these kind of statements.

What does it really mean? How deep does it go? When did he form these connections? But what we do know is that this was somebody who was seen as a professional in his ten years in the military. He presented himself, as we saw in that video clip, as a professional in the home sales industry.

This was somebody who, until recently, had seemed fairly normal in society, but he was having financial issues. He's saying that he was short of money, that he wanted to settle a second divorce quickly because his business was suffering.

Mental crisis. It speaks to mental crisis, and we've seen before with attackers, whether it's in the name of ISIS or others, that they go through a mental crisis, which leads to a breakdown, which leads to a change in behavior. And he's pinning this now on ISIS.

MACFARLANE: And we know that on the night, there were hundreds of police officers on the ground in enforcement, but clearly there was a security breach here, and there are questions being raised about the security measures, what was lacking. And, you now, this is important because we know that vehicles have been used fairly regularly in tourist locations such as this, one of the most high-profile nights of the year. I mean, was something missed here?

ROBERTSON: It seems to be, and I think you can ask that question at a couple of levels. Absolutely, as you say, ISIS and Al-Qaeda have both talked about using vehicles as a means of attack, use a pedestrian area, get to high speed, maximum casualties. The reason they do that is that came about 15 years ago.

These terror groups before tried to sort of have mass participation, big planned explosions, that sort of thing. Intelligence -- the intelligence community was able to sort of see those coming, get the warnings because they were grouping together, having discussions, and stop them. So the vehicle became an easy way of perpetrating terror.

So you can ask the question in two levels here at the moment. The authorities are saying he didn't act alone, OK. Does that mean intelligence opportunities were missed, that there was some level of communication that they didn't see?

And then, of course, the idea that pedestrian areas are protected, protected with bollards, protected with other things. And in this case, as we heard Omar reporting there, the bollard was down because new bollards were being put in place. But at that event, as you say, New Year's Eve, mass pedestrian participation, therefore a potential target.

Why would you not have a backup available? And I think that -- those two questions will be asked.

MACFARLANE: They are being pulled over right now, aren't they, Nic? Thank you.

Now to Las Vegas, where the FBI is working to determine whether that Tesla Cybertruck explosion is possibly connected to the New Orleans attack. Here's the moment police say fireworks, gas tanks and camping fuel were detonated in the bed of the vehicle. The FBI is also trying to figure out whether it was an act of terrorism.

Local police spoke to the glaring possibility of a connection between Trump Tower and the car produced by Elon Musk's company.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF KEVIN MCMAHILL, SHERIFF, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, I mean, it's a Tesla truck and we know that Elon Musk is working with President-elect Trump and it's the Trump Tower. So there's obviously things to be concerned about there and that's something we continue to look at.

The fact that this was a Cybertruck really limited the damage that occurred inside of the valet because it had most of the blast go up through the truck and out. In fact, if you look on that video, you'll see that the front glass doors at the Trump hotel were not even broken by that blast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, CNN's Veronica Miracle has more on the details of that investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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 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 out, that the glass from Trump Tower was not broken.

[04:15:02]

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 this 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)

MACFARLANE: Well, for more analysis, we're joined by Glenn Schoen, a security management consultant who is also an expert on terrorism. He's speaking with us from The Hague. Thank you so much for your time.

Now, we understand that the attacker had, as we've been saying multiple times, an ISIS flag attached to his vehicle. At the time of the attack, he has also made a series of videos before the attack in which he said he joined ISIS. What do you make of these links, these quite obvious links to the terror organization? And given that, how likely is it, do you think, that he did have accomplices in the act?

GLENN SCHOEN, SECURITY MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT: Well, ISIS is a bit of a do-it-yourself organization and always has promoted people, even if they're not an integral part or even tenuously linked to the organization, to claim things in its name. So, in and of itself, this fits a larger pattern that we've not only seen previously used in the U.S., but also notably in Europe and the Middle East. Of note here with ISIS, of course, we haven't heard much about it yet

in today's discussion, but is the fact that on 19th of December, the United States Central Command killed the most recently known leader of ISIS, Abu Yusif, in Syria.

And certainly that must be news within the organization that has also led to more calls just in recent days in the Middle East for revenge against the U.S. So that might be a factor here as well.

MACFARLANE: If that is a factor, is that something the authorities should have been aware of, been alert to? I mean, is there anything that could have flagged this attacker ahead of the event, the deadly event taking place?

SCHOEN: Possibly, but generally speaking, these are more generic alerts that come forth from the fact when you kill a terrorist leader, hey, there may be some form of revenge. And often that's more local or regional. Think here about the Middle East region, not necessarily as far away for such a headline attack as we just had in the U.S. But certainly analysts are looking at it now.

MACFARLANE: But specifically, I suppose I'm talking about his actions and his activities leading up to this event. We know that he was, for instance, posting or recording videos talking about joining ISIS. We know he's former military.

Are any of these red flags or should have been red flags to authorities or is there just no way of knowing? Is it a needle in a haystack?

SCHOEN: No, I think we'll have to see from the analysis. Of course, you know, hindsight is 20, 20, but quite often with these incidents, we find out later that people were fixing on a particular group, had a particular motive or following a particular agenda. We have the same right now and in a different vein with the whole investigation in Germany, in Magdeburg in that horrible accident just around Christmas a few days ago.

And this sort of reflects that situation, that there were signals, that there was leakage of information, if you will, to the outside world. But the signals weren't necessarily identified.

So I'm sure the FBI foremost will be scrubbing that effort right now. Look at that information to see if there is something clearly we missed or if there was something he was signaling in terms of I'm going to do a major event or I'm looking at New Year's in terms of timing or hints what he might have been intending to hit.

MACFARLANE: I just wanted to get your thoughts quickly. We've been talking, of course, about this Las Vegas car explosion and authorities are looking at potential links between the two deadly events. We know that at least on the surface, there appear to be some superficial similarities between the two.

Both suspects, for instance, use the same car rental app. Both suspects were from a military background. How likely is it that there was a link here?

SCHOEN: I'd say at least 50-50. When we look at these kinds of incidents that are generally well-planned, if they're happening or coinciding within a day of each other or even closer, we do often in the past see coordination in these efforts. Think of it also symbolically in terms of where it happened.

[04:20:00]

I mean, there's more parallels that I'm sure investigators are looking at, sort of sin cities, if you will, with the gambling, with the nightlife in New Orleans and the gambling in Las Vegas. They're both places where a lot of Americans have traveled to, have been, have visited. A lot of tourists come. So I'm sure there's a lot of parallels here that investigators will be looking at.

And then, of course, the sort of pure symbolism of Trump Tower and use of a Tesla. And I'm certain that within the next 24 hours, we'll get some harder read on what authorities believe may have been behind that.

MACFARLANE: Yes, on that and, of course, on New Orleans too. Glenn, for now, we appreciate your thoughts. Thank you for joining us.

SCHOEN: Thank you.

MACFARLANE: Well, deadly New Year's celebrations in the U.S. and Germany are showing dangerous -- how dangerous fireworks can be coming up.

Plus, heavy rain floods roads and causes travel chaos in England's northern city of Manchester.

And later, we'll have more on the deadly terror attacks in New Orleans, including the security concerns as the city prepares to host several major events during hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Officials in Hawaii say at least three people were killed in a massive fireworks explosion on New Year's Eve. It happened just before midnight outside a house where people were celebrating. Two people were declared dead on scene, and 20 seriously injured people were taken to hospital.

As you can see here in the aftermath in Honolulu, it does look like a war zone. The governor of Hawaii spoke after touring the damage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:25:00]

JOSH GREEN, (D) HAWAII GOVERNOR: The explosion was enormous, which meant that everything else shot out like shrapnel, like weapons, shooting into other people's houses, into their cars, blowing out the windows and into people's bodies. And so you have terrible injuries of internal organs, brain injuries. These are projectiles that are essentially like shooting guns off into a crowd, except it's from the explosion.

It was a bomb, make no mistake. It was a bomb that exploded. It was a firework bomb.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Meanwhile, in Germany, five people were killed in a string of incidents involving fireworks during New Year's Eve celebrations. In Berlin, firefighters responded to more than 1,800 incidents and police detained more than 330 people.

CNN's Nada Bashir has been following the story and joins us now.

Nada, why are the numbers of incidents here this high?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is the concern. And we continue to hear from a number of organizations in Germany calling for a ban, actually, on fireworks being sold on New Year's Eve. And there is real concern in particular over the illegal sale of fireworks.

So these are not standardized fireworks that are being used in sort of organized manners, but rather illegal homemade fireworks and often cases. And that may be why we have seen such a spike, such an increase in the number of incidents that emergency services are having to report to.

And just over New Year's Eve, I mean, we've seen a staggering number of quite disturbing incidents, including one apartment building, a firework setting alight at a balcony on one floor and then extending that fire to the second floor of the apartment building, as you mentioned.

We've seen at least five people killed and countless people injured as well. There has been reports of pretty serious injuries, including amongst children. One of the reports from officials says two-year-old, 11-year-old and 14-year-old children were seriously injured with burns to their hands, necks and faces.

So real concern, of course, for parents and families as they try to celebrate New Year's Eve in a safe manner. And I think what has been quite concerning as well for the authorities is, of course, this is a moment of high alert for the emergency services. But what we've also seen this year is emergency workers being targeted.

We've heard of firefighters as well as one police officer who had been presumably hit by an illegal firework, what is being described as a firework bomb, essentially, and is now undergoing surgery in hospitals. So a series of events, of course, taking place across Germany on New Year's Eve, really raising the concern again around the use of these illegal fireworks, essentially.

MACFARLANE: Well, they're essentially private fireworks, aren't they? And that was what the authorities were trying to ban in the run-up to the event. What are the authorities saying now after the event?

BASHIR: Well, there has been that repeated call again for a ban on New Year's Eve in particular in order to try and stem the number of incidents that we're seeing. Clearly, that wasn't the case this year. This has only renewed those calls.

We know that at least 300 people have been detained. This is only going to underscore for the authorities the need to get that regulations in place.

MACFARLANE: So not a problem isolated to Germany, of course, but the numbers here are quite staggering. Nada, thank you.

Now, the FBI is conducting search warrants in multiple states as it investigates the New Orleans terror attack.

Plus, New York police are searching for the persons responsible for a drive-by shooting outside an event venue. More details on that after this short break.