New Orleans – Two New Orleans police officers injured in the Jan. 1 Bourbon Street terrorist attack that left 15 people dead, including the attacker, Shamsuddin Jabbar, call the ISIS-motivated attacker a hero. His lawyer revealed that he is recovering after being incapacitated.
Around 3:15 a.m. on January 1, NOPD officers killed 14 civilians in an act of Islamic extremist terrorism after Mr. Jabbar drove his electric Ford F-150 pickup truck through New Year's crowds. He shot and killed the police after firing at them.
“Both are expected to make a full recovery,” NOPD attorney Eric Hessler, himself a former NOPD officer, told FOX News Digital.
Hessler said the two officers, whose identities have not yet been released, were on their way to an unrelated call in the early morning hours of New Year's when “a vehicle just passed them and hit the crane.”
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Bourbon Street reopens Thursday, Jan. 2, 2024, in New Orleans, Louisiana as authorities patrol Bourbon Street. A man plowed his car into a crowd of people celebrating the New Year on Bourbon Street on Wednesday, killing multiple people and injuring dozens. (Kat Ramirez, Fox News Digital)
“Within seconds, they responded and started doing what they were trained to do and what the situation required,” Hessler explained.
“They were caught up in a very traumatic and stressful series of events that unfolded very quickly.”
Officers immediately began determining whether the vehicle collision was intentional, and once they realized it was likely, they drew their weapons to address the ongoing threat.
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Investigators are investigating the scene after someone drove a car into a crowd at Canal Street and Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Wednesday, January 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
“They reacted correctly. They reacted the way they were trained. And they are dealing with the aftermath, albeit difficult, in the way they were trained,” the lawyer said.
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Street camera footage from the morning of the attack shows a group of officers standing near Bourbon Street immediately running toward the danger after receiving a call about a suspicious vehicle incident.
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Hessler also called the actions of the responding officers “heroic” and “well thought out.”
“They didn't have the opportunity to make real tactical decisions among themselves. They acted as a team. Some of these men and women had never worked together before. ” said the lawyer. “Many were from different jurisdictions. But the individual officers who were close to the scene, who acted on the threat, and eliminated the threat, did everything you would expect, especially under these circumstances, and We did more than that.”
Shamsuddin Jabbar, who was killed in a shootout with police responding to a pickup truck attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, is pictured in an undated photo released by the FBI. (FBI)
FBI Assistant Director Christopher Reia He said Thursday that authorities believe Mr. Jabbar acted alone. Authorities also found two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in different locations in the French Quarter after the terrorist attack. They were placed in a cooler.
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A memorial to those killed in the New Year's attack after Bourbon Street reopens to traffic on Thursday, January 2, 2024 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Revelers on Bourbon Street Wednesday after a man plows his car into a New Year's crowd, killing multiple people and injuring dozens. (Kat Ramirez, Fox News Digital)
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Before rampaging in New Orleans, Jabbar posted several videos on Facebook declaring his support. For Islamic State (ISIS)the FBI said at a press conference Thursday.
Victims of the attack identified as of Thursday include Martin “Tiger” Beck, 27. Drew Dauphin, 26 years old. Nikila Dedo, 18 years old. Nicole Perez, 28 years old. Reggie Hunter, 37 years old. Hubert Gausseau, 21 years old. Kareem Bilal Badawi. 18; Matthew Tenedrio, 25 years old. Billy DiMaio, 25 years old. and Terrence Kennedy (63).
