♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... woman: a successful business owner sells his company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son. a raymond james financial advisor get to know you, your passions, and the way you bring people together.

life well planned. brett: you know as someone coming out of college it can be very nerve-racking not knowing what to expect, whether you'll like your job or not, whether you'll make friends, whether you'll fit in, and here i feel like it's so welcoming and such an inclusive place to work, you just feel like you're valued. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" c news. c 10 people are killed after a vehicle drives into a large crowd in new orleans. the suspect has been named as 42-year-old shamsud din jabbar. the fbi says an i.s. flag was

found in the vehicle. >> we are aggressively running down every lead. >> the fbi has confirmed that police officers shot and killed the suspect. he was a u.s. army veteran. local media reports that the sugar bowl college football game has been postponed following the attack. that has been confirmed in a news conference in the last few minutes. ♪ hello. i'm annita mcveigh. the man suspected of carrying out an attack on new year's revelers in new orleans did not carry out the attack alone, the fbi has said. a flag of the group calling itself islamic state was found in a pickup truck which the suspect drove into a crowd of people. the fbi confirmed the suspect, named as 42-year-old shamsud din jabbar, was a u.s. military veteran.

he was shot dead at the scene after exchanging fire with police officers. 10 people were killed after the truck hit crowds of new year revelers in the city. at least 35 others were injured. local police say the driver tried to run over as many people as possible. two officers were wounded and are being treated in hospital. they are in stable condition. these images, shared by earth cam, you can see a group of police officers running toward the scene. this is around 3:00 a.m. local time. this picture via social media, checked by bbc verify, show law enforcement, many heavily armed, surrounding a white pickup truck in the aftermath of the incident. the fbi has taken the lead in the investigation and confirms that they are looking into this as an act of terrorism. the incident took place in the famous central french quarter of new orleans, a notable and busy nightlife spot in the busy

hours of new year's day local time. this was the scene in the last few hours. it is early afternoon they now. large parts of the french quarter remain cordoned off while investigations continue. in the last hour, we've heard from the fbi about the suspects. >> the suspect has been identified as 42-year-old shamsud din jabbar, a u.s. born citizen from texas. he was driving a ford pickup truck, which appears to be rented, and we are working to confirm how the suspect came in possession of the vehicle. an isis flag was located on the trailer hitch of the vehicle, and the fbi is working to determine the subject's potential affiliation with the organization. we are working with the department to investigate this as an act of terrorism. we are aggressively running down all of the leads to identify the possible subject associates. we are working to ensure there is no further threat. we do not believe that din

jabbar was slowly responsible. we are running down every lead. annita: at the same news conference in the last hour, the mayor of new orleans, latoya cantrell, get this update about what is happening in the city. mayor cantrell: my priority will continue to be to ensure that victims that remain on bourbon street now will be serviced and removed as soon as possible. the fbi is in charge of this investigation and are doing everything necessary to make this happen. i've gone to the hospital along with chief kirkpatrick to visit our police officers, and considering their injuries, they are doing well. as i mentioned, this investigation is ongoing, and the fbi remains the lead in the

investigation. it is an active crime scene as well. we are committed to uncovering all details surrounding this tragedy. annita: the governor of louisiana, jeff landry, gave more details at the news conference about additional security in the city and preparations around the sugar bowl college football game, which has been postponed for 20 four hours following the attack. gov. landry: the preparations for the sugar bowl are intended to issue an emergency declaration tomorrow, so that we can bring all of our federal, state, and local agencies to bear in preparation for the sugar bowl and mardi gras. but because of the events today, i have amended that emergency declaration and issued it today. so, again, that declaration will allow our federal, state, and

local partners to bring all of the resources necessary to get this city safe. in light of that executive order, i've also ordered the mobilization of the military police company. asked jim a note -- general friedman to assess the fbi. annita: just in case there's any confusion, we've been talking about the sugar bowl, which is the big college football game that attracts tens of thousands of spectators. you will have heard the governor also talking about the super bowl, because new orleans is due to host the super bowl this year as well. let's get more reaction now from washington. we will go to washington in just a moment, but let me bring you a statement that has just come to us in the last few seconds from ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy, saying he is horrified by the deadly attack

in new orleans on a crowd celebrating new year, and said that ukraine stands by the american people, in a statement on x, he says we trust that those responsible for this terrible act will be brought to justice. more reaction coming in from around the globe for what has happened there in new orleans. let's go now live to washington commanders we can speak to our north american correspondent, rowan bridge. bring us up-to-date on what president biden is saying he will offer by way of support to the people of new orleans. rowan: yeah. he has offered the support needed to the authorities in louisiana. there are some key things that came out of the news conference that bear repeating. it is clear that the authorities now do not think this was a single person behind this attack. they are trying to track down all of the known associates of

shamsud din jabbar, and anyone who has had contact with him in the last 72 hours. there are still victims of this attack on the street, and bourbon street, the french quarter, in new orleans, which means it is certainly possible that the death toll of 10 confirmed so far may go up. some are still in hospital are still in a critical condition also as well, there's been talk about whether there were security measures in place in new orleans, in case of such a terrorist attack. the police said they did have measures in place, there were patrol cars, but this was a determined attack. he drove on the pavement to get around the barriers in order to drive into people. finally, she said i think people need to understand that the sugar bowl, this american football game between two

university sides, is a massive game. american football, university football, is a massive sport in this country, so for that event to be postponed, that is a significant event to be postponed in that way. but the nfl has said it will take place, it will be 24 hours later. annita: and certainly tells us about the concerns about the fbi, the lead agency investigating this, and other agencies, about what has happened in new orleans, rowan. president-elect trump was talking in his statement, he called this an act of pure evil, is that criminals coming in are far worse than criminals who have come into our country, but since he made that statement, we have learned the suspect is a u.s.-born, texas resident and army veteran. rowan: yeah. that is right. those details were confirmed by the fbi in that news conference this afternoon. what is not clear is exactly what the motive is behind this.

the fbi said it is a terrorist incident, and if you've seen some of the pictures, you've seen what the fbi now believes is an i.s. flag on the bumper of that car, and they are working to find out if they have any other links or otherwise within a terrorist organizations. this was an attack taken out on u.s. territory. annita: rowan, thank you very much, rowan bridge in washington for us. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. ♪

♪ all more now on that attack in new orleans and a witness account. our reporter has spoken to steve who was in the city to celebrate his 44th birthday a few days ago.

steve: i've been here many times. i'm told that what it was like last night is what it is like for mardi gras. it is just a massive, massive party. everyone is just so happy. just crazy numbers of people. the fireworks were beautiful. i was in a bar, which is about 15, 20 meters from bourbon street, and, you know, we were all having a great time. i had been in there for about maybe two and a half hours at that point, and then we heard shots, saw people running past the window. did not really know, you know, what was going on.

we heard the shots and knew it would not be good. we kind of thought ok, it is a shooting, someone has been shot. but that was not the case. they shuddered down the windows, locked the door, and we all just sort of, i suppose in a way, try to carry on, because we did not really know anything, so we just -- things were a lot quieter at that point, and then all silence. and then we started to know it was more. bearing in mind, fireworks had been going off, you know, all night. yiou hear bangs. the fireworks had been going on for hours and hours, before midnight. so it was, the noise, you had kind of grown accustomed to at

that point. we were all just talking, ok, what has happened? what do we do? the bar staff were great. they were all very calm. everyone in the bar was calm as well. i guess -- we did not know. i then went to sleep, you know, ok, still not really sure what has happened, and then woke up this morning and then, you know, yeah, calling family and saying, don't worry, i'm ok. just heartbroken. i love the city, and i love the people, and this city and these people do not deserve this. annita: tourist steve hyde speaking from new orleans. michael willis is a professor and program director at tulane university, a private research

institution in new orleans, louisiana. he's been telling us about why there was confusion earlier at about whether to characterize the incident as terrorism. prof. wallace: law enforcement are trying to figure out who this person is, why he did this, what social media did he have, you know, what was the flag that was on the back, it actually is a flag. black does indicate islamic state. you have these things that could indicate something but then again could not pierce a law enforcement is very hesitant about calling something even domestic terrorism or foreign terrorism. politicians you see will use the word terrorism a little bit more freely, but law enforcement, they usually, they want to do their investigation before they make a decision like that. the fact that fbi's lead agency

indicates this is a terrorist attack is because the fbi is a lead agency for investigating terror attacks, and, you know, again, what i've seen so far, and, again, preliminary reports, i would suspect this is a lone wolf style attack, and, you know, from out of state, with a long gone. annita: professor michael willis. -- michael wallace. i spoke to james hamilton, a former fbi security special agent, as he discussed the key points from that news conference. james: it is informative, and we see this all the time, so the bureau will do their due diligence and find anyone he was connected to or speaking to or working with. they have a long road ahead of them, but i was not surprised by that information.

saddened to hear it but not surprised. annita: when they say they don't believe the suspect is solely responsible, is that out of an abundance of caution, or do you think they will have some solid leads to suggest that? james: well, certainly they will not rule anything out, but indication will be, you know, he probably did have some type of help or assistance, we talk about ied's, a rifle, you know, that type of planning would indicate someone knew what was going on, so they are going to, you know, leave no stone unturned looking. it is going to be a long, long time for them. news may move on to something on tomorrow, but these fbi agent and this response team will be working diligently for a very long period of time to make sure there's not someone else working with this individual. annita: and as an army veteran, he will have the skill, the knowledge to build these ied's, the improvised explosive device's, and so forth. james: and depending on how

sophisticated they are, and ied signature, talking about making a bomb, looking at that, you know, was it sophisticated? would that be in line with this individual's training in the army, or would it be, you know, a sophisticated type of device, where ok, he needed some help him and they will look further. a lot of questions remain unanswered. annita: all of that explains why that big, that major college football game, which is a huge deal in the u.s., has been postponed for 24 hours. what else will the fbi be doing than in that period to try to establish some more facts about this? james: yeah. who is this guy? who was he talking to? when was he radicalized? who is he working with? who is he communicating with? scrubbing every device you could possibly think of, social media, phone, you name it, they will be digging through it, trying to figure out everything they can about this individual. was he working with others?

what led to this? what made him do this at this particular time? it is going to be very in-depth. annita: how much of a blow, how much will it shake people to learn that this was a u.s.-born army veteran who is the suspect in this? james: well, again, we seen it before. again, people will be concerned and troubled by it, of course, you never want to see a military individual to be involved in something like this, but not terribly surprising, because it has happened. back to your point about the game, very prudent to go ahead and postpone that. they want to make sure there's not others. i think the fbi assist asap, she said there were two ied's. there may be more. they will be prudent to make sure everything is safe, and that facility, to use their terms in the press conference, it will be locked down for

tomorrow, but, again, when you are out and about on the street, you got to be vigilant. you've got to pay attention, and it is going to be a highly vigilant time for the foreseeable future. annita: authorities at that news conference looking a little bit under pressure at the time, especially when it came to questions about the wedges, they have been discussed at length today come and one of the reporters asking someone getting on the sidewalk, which this suspect dead, and getting around any security measures considered impossible. i don't think the police officer at that point was able to answer that question. i think the governor sort of stepped in and said look, we will bring you more details when we have them. what are your thoughts on that? does it look, as far as you can tell, that the authorities had taken reasonable security measures? and what sort of state of alert would new orleans have been under or when this happened? james: it sounds like they did, and obviously, you know, you

heard them, they were concerned, i think deficient was the word they used, and they apparently got some money for infrastructure before the super bowl, and they had acknowledged there was a concern by parking the vehicle there. as far as i'm going up on the sidewalk, you know, could they have been done? sure. in this case, maybe that is what this individual did. even if they block that off and there was pedestrian access, he could have done a considerable amount of damage also. this a part of living in a free society. we are going to have and we have had issues like this in the past him and we will see it again in the future. it is very difficult to stop these types of attacks. i think, you know, kudos to the police officers, once the individual did what he did and they engaged them, they engaged him back, and the subject is dead. that shows a lot of courage. but again, very difficult to stop these types of attacks.

it looks like they had a plan for it, but they did have a truck across the road. again, just a tragic situation. annita: that is former fbi special supervisory agent james hamilton speaking to me a short time ago. we've been hearing from local business owners affected by the cordons and that section of new orleans. earlier my colleague christian fraser spoke to a coffee shop owner to just run the corner from where the incident took place, and he described his experience. >> we are just around the corner from where it has been sealed off. christian: for how long? matthew: they will not tell us how long. my employees are turned away. they will not let anyone walk up and down the streets. no businesses are open. i assume people in their houses are stuck. but they have shut down all activity. christian: have you spoken to

any of your employees or anybody local who was there last night? matthew: no. they know better than to be down here in the middle of the night on new year's eve. you know, none of our employees are down here. we were all home. we closed early. christian: what has happened and the security situation in the french quarter, do you think questions should be asked about how tight that security was? matthew: no, actually the security down here in new orleans has improved dramatically. it is something we are all proud of. it has been a lot of work with the state troopers. they have done an amazing job. the police of bri superintenden, the police have done an amazing job, people on the street having fun, all being respectful and behaving, you got good crowd control. it is really an amazing thing to see. in new orleans is a safe city could you got specific

incidences, obviously, as you hear about them, kind of crime on crime type of activity, but it is really a safe city, the really family oriented, people like ourselves who have been down here for generations. so it is really heartbreaking and very undeserved that we would get this type of mayhem. you know, you did not get shootings, you don't get brawls, you don't get street fight, you don't get all the things that you would expect to get or maybe you've had in the past, and i we get that? i mean, what the hell is that? and how do you protect against that? a lot of these streets do get barricades, so they do take precautions, but it is a huge neighborhood. it is a very, very big neighborhood. they got huge police presence down here. so it is really undeserved and demoralizing. we kind of don't deserve it in the community, to be honest. christian: i was in these to you and everybody connected with the city. just in terms of what you are saying about the barricades,

obviously there are open questions about motive and where this man has come from and what he knew about the city, but would you suggest then, given barricades are in place in some parts of the city, that he had identified a weak point? matthew: oh, obviously here central canal street, which is a major thoroughfare, that has to remain open, for fleets and buses and that sort of thing. he came in from there. all of the streets that surround the neighborhood, they've got barricades, so you cannot get your car in anywhere else. so, yeah, i think you're probably right about that, something he identified as a weak point. annita: some more information coming to us from our partner organization in the u.s., cbs news, about the suspect, shamsud din jabbar. according to records obtained by cbs news, the 42 euros was a resident of houston in texas, an american citizen, army veteran who had a hunting and fishing license, register to vote in his

home state, had prior rushes with the law, including theft and driving without a license. a spokesperson for georgia state university told cbs news that he attended gsu from 2015 to 2017 and graduated in computer and information systems. he rented the truck through an app and then drove to new orleans, and he rented in airbnb in a neighborhood. a fire broke out at that airbnb earlier today. investigators are examining any potential links announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs.

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... woman: a successful business owner sells his company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son. a raymond james financial advisor get to know you, your passions, and the way you bring people together.