New Orleans latest: FBI says suspect acted alone in rampage; Bourbon Street reopens

Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser sharply criticized New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell after Wednesday’s truck attack.

Nungesser, a Republican, told local media the Democrat’s administration was only offering “excuses” after the attack.

“I’ve held my tongue long enough,” Nungesser said. “Her lack of leadership is an embarrassment.”

Here’s more on how local officials may have dropped the ball on security planning in the city’s most iconic neighborhood.

Joe Biden may visit Bourbon Street in the coming days, the site of Wednesday’s horrific New Orleans truck terror attack.

Photos obtained by the FBI show New Orleans attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar walking near Bourbon Street an hour before he drove a truck through a crowd of pedestrians there in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, killing 14.

The photos also show a cooler authorities believe Jabbar planned to use as an explosive device, which never detonated.

New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick had a sharp reponse to a reporter on Thursday who questioned if the department had failed to secure Bourbon Street ahead of the truck attack that killed 14.

“That’s not correct. We would disagree with that,” Kirkpatrick said. “I take exception with that and I do not agree with that.”

“If you were experienced with terrorism, you would not be asking that question,” she added.

The reporter who asked the question, James Matthew of Sky News, in fact is a seasoned reporter who won a BAFTA for his coverage of the 2007 Glasgow Airport terror attack, which also involved a vehicle.

For more details on whether police could’ve done more to cordon off the area where the attack took place, read Alex Woodward.

The former Army commander of New Orleans attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar says he was shocked to learn his old colleague carried out a mass killing.

Rich Groen, who said he commanded Jabbar in Afghanistan, described the Texas man as a “great Soldier, someone who showed discipline and dedication” who “worked quietly and professionally” when they were acquainted.

“To think that the same individual who once embodied quiet professionalism could harbor so much hate, leading to such unspeakable atrocities, is incomprehensible and heartbreaking,” Groen wrote on X. “This transformation is a stark reminder of the dangers of unchecked anger, isolation, and hate.”

Tim Tebow shared an emotional message on Thursday about the New Orleans truck attack, as the former NFL quarterback spoke during a broadcast of the Sugar Bowl in the same city the following day.

Tebow said the attack was a reminder that there is “still evil in this world,” but that he was heartened to see people coming together after the violence.

While information is still evolving about the recent New Orleans attack and Las Vegas truck explosion, the fact that individuals linked to both incidents were U.S. military veterans is raising questions about the extent of violent extremism within the ranks of the military.

According to data from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland, individuals with military backgrounds plotted 144 mass casualty terror attacks between 1990 and 2022, representing 25 percent of all terror plotters in the U.S. during that period.

“The rate of military service in the mass casualty offender population is more than three times that of military service in the general adult population, which is estimated at 8 percent,” according to START.

Top Republicans keep insinuating the Biden administration’s border policy had something to do with the New Orleans truck attack over New Year’s, even though the attacker was a U.S. citizen and former Army servicemember.

In the early stages after the attack, Donald Trump quickly suggested the incident was tied to immigration, even before the suspect’s full identity was known.

Today, figures like House Speaker Mike Johnson have continued this line of argument.

He suggested on Fox News that the New Orleans attack emphasized the risk of immigrants setting up terror cells inside the U.S., despite officials saying available evidence suggests the truck attacker acted alone.

We’re getting a few more details about the fire that broke out today in the French Quarter.

The property was vacant, according to the New Orleans Fire Department, and locals believe homeless people may have triggered the blaze.

Smoke from the fire was dying down throughout the day, Fox 8 Nola reports.