once again, stay away from bourbon street, canal street all the way to st. ann until we can figure out w what is going on. our goal is to provide you additional information at the 11:00 a.m. press conference. thank you so much and we will be in touch. >> i will say that we want our community and our visitors to continue enjoying -- there's so much to enjoy about new orleans and we are going to make sure that our routes and the superdome are safe today for the game and yet we had this tragic event and we're sorry, again, to everyone in our community, but we do want you to go about the day, as we say, just stay away from bourbon. >> could you elaborate on the device? >> we actually are not going to be taking questions this morning until we have more information. that's why we will give you an 11:00 briefing. so until then, please hold your questions. we will give you everything that we possibly can. okay? so 11:00 we will see you at the headquarters and we will go again from there. okay? no questions. no questions right now. >> the device is confirmed? >> than

_ blocked off area of bourbon street. et. used his truck as a weapon to run over the victims. teams — weapon to run over the victims. teams of— weapon to run over the victims. teams of specialists are on the ground — teams of specialists are on the ground assisting survivors and loved — ground assisting survivors and loved ones of deceased. we do not believe the public is in any— not believe the public is in any dangeraround any not believe the public is in any danger around any of these locations — any danger around any of these locations. after ramming through a blocked off area of bourbon _ through a blocked off area of bourbon street. used his truck as a _ bourbon street. used his truck as a weapon to run over the victims. — as a weapon to run over the victims. teams of specialists are on— victims. teams of specialists are on the _ victims. teams of specialists are on the ground assisting survivors— are on the ground assisting survivors and loved ones of deceased. we do not believe the public— deceased. we do not belie

once again, stay away from bourbon street. nal street all the way to saint anne until we can figure out what is going on. our goal is to provide you additional information at the 11:11 a.m. press conference. thank you so much. >> all right. you heard right there the update from local officials in new orleans about this evolving situation on the ground that happened earlier this morning in the french quarter, right on bourbon street. we have our panel back here to help break down what we just listened to. jeanne, i'd like to go to you first, if that's all right. what were your major takeaways from what we heard from law enforcement right there? >> well, i think they've really shown the timeline in all of this, and i think we can recreate in our minds the vivid picture that they have described. 315 in the morning, a man driving as fast as he can down bourbon street, he goes beyond the barricades to hit as many people as he can. while he's doing that, it appears as though that's when he takes out a gun and shoots two police office

the incident happened on the corner of bourbon street and canal street in the french quarter — whichll—known nightlife and tourist hotspot filled with bars, clubs and restaurants and hotels. but the police said more local people than tourists were injured. that's what police are saying at this point. here you see some people walking away from the scene in the early hours of the scene in the early hours of the morning. many of those people, we are being told in the last few minutes, are not able to go back to their hotels. they would have been staying in that particular area so they have been out on the streets for most of the early hours of the morning. we have heard from the louisiana state governorjeff landry. and the white house said in a statement: "the fbi is already on the ground supporting local law enforcement in the investigation and the president will continue to be briefed throughout the day." new orleans authorities say they'll provide an update at a second news conference in around three hours. we will take you live to that when we get it. our news correspondent sean dil

>> reporter: tony, it looks like bourbon street, it is starting to sound like bourbon street, and itowly starting to feel like bourbon street. and part of that is the heavy police presence. new orleans pd. you also have state troopers fbi agents, and homeland security agents, all walking around try to make people who are coming after the game feel safe. >> reporter: yeah, and yet the energy level is going up by the second. omar, thank you very much. just before bourbon street reopened to the public today though, there was a small ceremony honoring the 14 people who died in this attack. they were honored with a yellow rose, representing each and every one of the victims. and tonight, as more of the faces and the names of those victims are being revealed and made public, their loved ones are also beginning to share their stories. for many of the families, there is no making sense of it. how a new year's celebration on bourbon street could turn into a lifetime now of mourning. >> we still haven't really wrapped our minds around that like, a terrorist attack took our matthew. >> reporter

on bourbon street there's a lot of scents, a lot of smells. i don't think you can run a bomb dog down bourbon street with thousands of people there and be able to sniff out a bomb. what we have been doing is certainly a complete sweep of the quarter because of the limited amount of traffic that's been out there. let me just say this. this may help. it would be my hope that as some additional time goes through, maybe closer to the beginning of next week if we've got to what extent but not as we could, i would work with the fbi and the city and maybe we could come up with a timeline to get you those information and walk everyone through from day one. it's extremely premature and you're really putting on some speculative grounds to ask some of those questions because again it's only been 24 hours. can you imagine how far we've come in 24 hours? we will go one at a time. >> making bourbon street safer tonight than it was new year's eve, or temporary barriers being brought in, why weren't they used on new year's eve? >> here's what i will say. ever

and i didn't know that was going to be our last text message. >> reporter: in new orleans today bourbon streeteopened ahead of the sugar bowl. the college football game delayed a day because of the attack. >> we have brought in heavy trucks. >> reporter: the police superintendent assuring people her city and their iconic street are safe. >> and tom, there are some new images tonight related to the attack there on bourbon street. what can you tell us? >> reporter: that's right, lester. the fbi releasing tonight some chilling new images. they show the terrorist walking through bourbon street as he was planting those explosive devices. and we're also seeing for the first time the coolers that the terrorist was hiding those pipe bombs in. the fbi says they were filled with nails. if they would have exploded, likely several more people would have died. lester? >> all right. tom llamas starting us off tonight. thank you. >>> now we want to go to las vegas, where police say a man blew up a tesla cybertruck in front of the trump hotel in las vegas on new year's day. morgan chesky reports on his milita

once again, stay away from bourbon street. anal street all the way to saint anne until we can figure out what is going on. our goal is to provide you additional information at the 11:11 a.m. press conference. thank you so much, and we will be in touch. >> yes, i will say that we want our community and our visitors to continue enjoying. there's so much to enjoy about new orleans, and we are going to make sure that our routes in the superdome are safe today for the game. and yet we had this tragic event and we're sorry again, to everyone in our community, but we do want you to go about the day, as we say, just stay away from bourbon, okay? >> library on the device. you did say something about the device. >> we actually are not going to be taking questions this morning until we have more information. that's why we will give you an 11:00 briefing. so until then, please hold your questions. we will give you everything that we possibly can. okay. so 11:00, we will see you at the headquarters and we will go again from there. okay. no

carmen, bourbon street, one of the busiest streets in the country all year around and let alone on new year's eve. at the press conference, they talked about the fact that the suspect drove around the police car blocking bourbon street and on to a sidewalk. there was a lot of talk about what is happening in the city of new orleans right now because of the super bowl in february. they were actually trying to replace these things called ballards, which are things like steel pillars that come up out of the ground and can go back down, and they are replacing them and were trying to do that in time for the super bowl. it struck all of us, and jesse kirsch mentioned this earlier, it seemed changed they would not block the sidewalk also. why did they not have security in front of the sidewalk? >> well, as you mentioned, kate, i can't answer for the agency. i think some things they would consider would be the level of traffic, trying to allow people to experience the celebration and have enough resources available to respond quickly. there will be a lot of debriefing to figure out whether that

you can see police are still processing the crime scene here on bourbon street. streets could reopen later today. at least that's the hope, as the city is welcoming tens of thousands of people for the sugar bowl. there's been no official announcement from the city. as investigators are combing through the evidence, they're reviewing this footage showing the driver slowly approaching bourbon and canal street around 3:15 a.m. new year's day. he then takes a sharp turn driving into the sidewalk, plowing into pedestrians. at least 15 people killed, scores injured. authorities say the attacker wore body armor and fired an ar-style rifle out of the truck for three blocks before crashing into a construction vehicle. officers then engaged the suspect, returning fire, killing him. two officers were injured in that process. sources tell abc news the ford f150 truck that he was driving contained multiple homemade pipe bombs packed with nails. on the back of the truck bed a pole wrapped in a gray jacket with an isis flag. authorities identifying the suspect as an army veteran

bourbon street at 3:15 a.m. was more than likely packed wall to wall with people, not just people, coming to celebrate new year's eve in new orleans, but also with the sugar bowl, which kicks off in just about 13 hours. georgia and notre dame had large fan bases in the city when it comes to those killed and injured. the police superintendent, ann kirkpatrick, about 90 minutes ago, telling us they do know the demographic. they believe a lot of the people were local, but they can't confirm that with everybody. let's go to brittney verner. she is at a different location near royal street, brittany. what are you seeing? as we should point out, the french quarter basically completely shut down right now. yeah. travers, we moved our location to royal and bienville street, and right now we're seeing much of what we saw in canal. lots of police officers and detectives over here investigating because that eight block circumference is blocked off. while this investigation continues, i'm going to step out of the way so you

we were on bourbon street, walking around and my son is only 17 years old so we weren't able to go intoot of places. so we were just kind of hanging out on the streets enjoying the music and the people, having a good time, and we saw these doors open with some live music being played so we walked in there, and within a few minutes that we were inside, we heard the gunshots and the people that, the bar that we were at, they shut the doors and they told us all to get down. and they locked us in there. and we were in there probably about five minutes, we took cover and when we walked out we saw the truck that was crashed right in front of us, right in front of where we were at and we didn't really even know what happened, we didn't know it was just an accident and then we saw people on the floor and first responders giving cpr and we stood there and watch them try to save this young kid that was similar in age to my son. so i got really emotional, i was in shock and just washing them trying to save this young kid -- watching them try to save this young kid. the police put up their police t

now, why new orleans. >> reporter: this morning, new video showing the terrifying moments on bourbon street, pedestrians fleeing that white pickup truck after the driver jumped a curb, passed a police car and barrelled down the street, all captured on surveillance video. >> i need ems canal bourbon now. >> reporter: horrified witnesses recording the scene, along three blocks of the french quarter. >> and there were just bodies and the screams. i mean, you can't un-think about that -- unhear that. it was c chaos. >> reporter: police say at least 15 people killed, more than 30 others injured. authorities looking at this as an act of terrorism. the fbi describing the driver, 42-year-old shamsud-din jabbar, u.s. citizen from texas, army veteran who served in afghanistan. a youtube video posted four years ago, jabbar identifies himself as a realtor. >> born and raised in beaumont, texas, now live in houston. >> reporter: authorities looking for any potential links to terrorist groups after finding an isis flag attached to the back of the truck. president biden addressing the nation. >> reporter:

new questions about why bourbon street was not safe wednesday morning.tained excerpts from a 2019 corpororate intelligence report warning new orleans barrier system does not seem to work and is rarely used and warned on bourbon street the two be used are vehicle ramming and mass shooting. bourbon street's barrier repairs were still unfinished this week when the fbi says an isis-inspired terrorist killed 14 people. new orleans police facing questions about why these barriers were not there on new years. >> i didn't know about them. we have them. we have been able now to put them out. >> reporter: the manufacture of the barriers says the city of new orleans bought the protective equipment in 2017. they are 700 pounds, made of steel and designed to stop a car-ramming attack. as the public safety debate continues so it is the investigation into shamsud din jabbar. the fbi confirming it was at his houston residence again showing a car towed away from the scene. kprc obtaining this video from inside the home where two senior law enforcement officials say the f

cam, this is bourbon street where this tragedy occurred. good evening.eans, the san francisco police officers union is asking the department to reinstate its partnership with the fbi's joint terrorism task force. >> the partnership was suspended in 2017 because of pressure from civil liberties advocates. >> abc seven news reporter suzanne fawn is live in the newsroom with a closer look at the concern j.r. >> dan, the

street. we were on bourbon _ came down the street. we were on bourbon street, _ came down the street.walking - on bourbon street, walking around and my son is only 17 years old so we weren't able to go into a lot of places. so we were just kind of hanging out on the streets enjoying the music and the people, having a good time, and we saw these doors open with some live music being played so we walked in there, and within a few minutes that we were inside, we heard the gunshots and the people that, the bar that we were at, they shut the doors and they told us all to get down. and they locked us in there. and we were in there probably about five minutes, we took cover and when we walked out we saw the truck that was crashed right in front of us, right in front of where we were at and we didn't really even know what happened, we didn't know it was just an accident and then we saw people on the floor and first responders giving cpr and we stood there and watch them try to save this young kid that was similar in age to my son. so i got really emotional, i was in shock and just washing the

>> reporter: bourbon street has reopened, and now canal street has reopened.t to show you, this is where that truck came through. you can see you've got a bear cat, you've got the department of homeland security staging some special operators over there, and more traditional police forces along the way. this street is blocked off by this massive truck. again, this is where the truck popped up on the curve, and made it through. there's a little bit of a memorial right here. people are leaving beads and flowers for some of the victims, but right here, these are the barriers they have put in. these barriers are temporary barriers. they were put in a little while ago to prevent any type of vehicle to get up there. there's a removable barrier, a wedge barrier, they didn't have those barriers in place because they sometimes would have mechanical problems, and they wouldn't be able to get them down in time if an ambulance needed to come in here, so the wedge barriers, they talked about during some of these press conferences, but the idea of bollards, this used to be

this truck darting around a police vehicle, then accelerating into a crowd on bourbon street. >> it was. bodies, folks were just running through the streets. >> reporter: at least 15 killed, dozens injured in a suspected terror attack. >> an isis flag was located on the trailer hitch of the vehicle, weapons and potential improvised explosive devices, ieds, were located in the suspect's vehicle. >> reporter: the suspect identified as shamsud-din jabbar. after crashing into a crane, jabbar apparently jumping from the vehicle. and after wounding two officers, killed in a shootout with police. agents now indicating he likely had help carrying out the attack. >> we do not believe jabbar was solely responsible. we are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates. >> reporter: law enforcement teams searching the suspect's home in houston and the scene at an overnight fire at a new orleans airbnb where it's believed some of the devices may have been assembled. two additional ieds, located in the french quarter were rendered safe. the area still locked down as th

bourbon street is open again, so, let's get back to whit johnson. whit?f the resilience here. a brass band bringing jazz music back to bourbon street, just hours ago, the scene of such horror. a memorial laid for the victims. yellow roses. and, of course, mardi gras beads. this city not letting terror crush the powerful symbols of new orleans, music, togetherness, and compassion. mary? >> mary: new orleans strong. whit, thank you. thank you for watching. i'm mary bruce. i hope to see you right back here tomorrow night. for david and all of us here, good night. right now. >> real life horror movie screams. >> i mean, you can't you can't think about, you know, on here that everything in the car is hitting, it's getting thrown. >> it's getting thrown up into the air. >> we've had 24 hours now to go through media, to go through phones. >> we're going to keep those again who have lost loved ones in in mine. and we're going to get on to the business of this city and this great country. >> the governor of louisiana, just moments before bourbon street in new orle

and bourbon street trying to bounce back as the city honors the dead.action, and bourbon street trying to bounce back as the city honors the dead. >>> good evening, i'm tom llamas in for lester tonight. the first three days of 2025 have been defined by two acts of stunning violence. one in new orleans, and one in las vegas. the question in both is why. law enforcement now laying out in fine detail the timeline, the motive and the trail of clues left behind by the special ops soldier that shot himself and blew himself up outside the trump hotel in las vegas. the digital trail emerging tonight is enormous. the charred phone found in the wreckage. tonight we will hear from a former girlfriend adding to the picture of what happened. with speculation running wild the fbi going out of its way to make the points that at this time events in new orleans and las vegas are not connected. we start off with the stunning new details emerging from las vegas. >> reporter: tonight the motive and the final days of matthew livelsberger coming into sharper focus. >> it ult

local time this morning as people were out in the street to celebrate the new year near bourbon and canal streets. a driver in a pickup truck drove down bourbon street at a very high speed. they say it appears he was trying to run over as many people as possible. >> we have team coverage. david spunt is at the white house. first alexis mcadams. >> this is still developing there on the ground. investigators are trying to piece this all together. what we do know, according to investigators, is this man was trying to run over as many people as he could. he went around the barricades, according to police. now this morning we can confirm that the suspect is dead. i want to take you right to a sound byte from that press conference where they talked about how ten people were killed, more than 30 possibly injured. we know that suspect is dead. two officers shot in stable condition. let's listen. >> what i also can tell you is that this man, this perpetrator, he fired on our officers. from his vehicle when he crashed his vehicle. two of our officers have been shot. they are stable. he was hell ben

once again, stay away from bourbon street, canal street all the way to st. anne until we can figure out what is going on. our goal is to provide additional information at the 11:00 a.m. press conference. thank you so much. and we will be in touch. >> yes. i will say that we want our community and our visitors to continue enjoying -- there's so much to enjoy about new orleans. and we are going to make sure that our routes and the superdome are safe today for the game. and yet we had this tragic event. and we're sorry again to everyone in our community. but we do want you to go about the day, as we say, just stay away from -- >> all right. that's a police and fbi news conference from new orleans. right now we want to go to cbs fbi news conference from new orleans right now, we want to go over to nicole on the phone, what are your sources saying about this attack? >> two law enforcement sources saying the driver of this vehicle is dead, law enforcement, fbi and police now searching that vehicle. scouring for evidence, looking for additional weapons, the mission

why bourbon street? do we know?tell you new orleans is a small city punching above its weight in terms of hosting large-scale national and international events for a long time. that makes us a soft target. america is a soft target because we are a free society, not a police state and that's part of the reason why some folks want to attack us and our way of life. this was in the first few hours of a new year which holds so much promise for every person, right? the fact that we are hosting in my opinion the biggest game of the year, notre dame. i was thoroughly looking forward to being at that game yesterday. american football is about as american as you can get. this attack was specifically designed to wreak havoc and terror on americans in new orleans. all eyes in the country will be watching this game and i think that is the reason we were picked. obviously a lot of things left to change. i can run from up my car to the gate to catch a flight and after 9/11, we realized we need to do things very, very differently s

and that's a very active that 100 block of bourbon street, a wall street.his is a lot a lot of shenanigans going on there. but there are police everywhere. and that guy, he didn't care. he wanted he wanted to be killed. i mean, he so i but i don't blame our police, i mean, i my hat is off to all of them. i and as soon as that happened they they ran in the right place. >> do you think it do you think that something will change now? i mean, in terms of security planning preparations, do you think something needs you? >> no, i don't think. i mean, look again, because there are so many live big events here. it's huge. >> and this city is really good. i mean, the new orleans police department, for all the criticism they've gotten, is up in live events. they are very good at crowd control. we have a great chief. >> okay? i mean, it's like anything else, the police department is better sometimes. and other times i think right now is good. time for nopd to have shorthanded. but that's the nature of it. but, you know, we got to come together. people got to we got to

lethal force to stop somebody like this on bourbon street?nswer to that question, yes, that individual would. so anyone who is trying to take the life of someone else or engage in taking the life of someone else, you do have the right to use lethal force in order to prevent that person from furtherance of taking someone else's life. in this situation if you would have multiple police officers at different angles shooting at a moving vehicle, it can be where other people end up getting

tonight i want to show the viewers how the alleged terrorist got on to bourbon street. he came with his white pickup truck. that is the entrance to bourbon. he jumps the curb and gets over a police car and heads down bourbon street starting his killing spree. tonight we learned his truck wasn't his only weapon. he also had a firearm and explosive device. in the opening hours of the new year, terror on the streets of new orleans. cell phone video capturing the scene of bodies sprawled along the city's famed bourbon street. the wounded being treated while still laying in the road. >> we are dealing with ems right now. >> reporter: video courtesy of earth cam showing police racing towards the carnage where a driver plowed his pickup truck into the crowds in the historic french quarter. racing through the street, killing as many as 15 and injuring dozens of others. >> he was tell bent on creating the carnage and the damage he did. >> reporter: police say the suspect started his attack at 3:15 a.m. local, mowing people down at high speed. then crashing into a crane. he died

the driver racing down bourbon street for three blocks, shooting at officers and people in the streetho is dead, has been identified as a 42 year old military veteran who was born in texas. authorities say they found an isis flag in the truck he was driving. and tonight the fbi say they don't believe he acted alone. we are going to be listening to president biden here shortly. we know he has been updated throughout the day. and while we are waiting for the president to come out there at camp david, let's get straight to trevor ault, who's they are close to the scene of all of this in new orleans. trevor, what's the latest? >> well, mayor, this is still a very active scene here. this is bourbon street right behind me, just a block down the way we're seeing fbi investigators and the coroner's van on what is a massive crime scene here, as there are still many unanswered questions. and according to authorities, still, some people who they believe played a role in this heinous incident. now, as we're seeing state, local and federal officials, we're also seeing a lot of people staying in th

>> what brought him to bourbon street, do we understand? was there any international travel involved? what led him down this path to the sort of radicalization? yeah, sure. >> a lot a lot of a lot of questions. we're still asking ourselves. we know that he specifically picked out bourbon street. not quite sure why. i mean, i think one can assume that it was lots of people. new year's eve. uh, you know, with a, you know, a target for, for an attack. that's the stuff in the coming days as far as that path to radicalization that we're really going to be digging into and making a priority, making a priority, making a priority of. so what i can tell you right now is that he was 100% inspired by i.s.i.s.. and so we're digging we're digging through more of the social media, more interviews, working with some of our other partners to to ascertain just how to, to to ascertain a little bit more about that connection. >> we're going to we're going to do one more. kate. kate. right there. >> you had your hand up for a while. sure. >> thank you i apprec

was able to clear bourbon street.hat that meant also for me and this city was that we were able to remove our victims, identify them, and notify their families. they mattered, the families matter, and matter to the city of new orleans. in addition to that, i want to just thank again our federal partners in washington listening to my plea personally for the additional resources to allow for the scene to be cleared. again, attending to our victims. i walked by each one and i did the sign of the cross in my own way because reverence again is important. so while we have been able to have bourbon street returned back to the city of new orleans and the due diligence has been done, that then allowed me to give the go ahead to begin the cleaning of bourbon street. that started happening in the morning about 2:00 a.m. it was completed before 8:00 a.m. when this morning. that has really set the tone, i would say, and with the confidence that i have in the law enforcement partners, all of the resources that have been activated,

and that's a very active that 100 block of bourbon street, a wall street.s is a lot a lot of shenanigans going on there. but there are police everywhere. and that guy, he didn't care. he wanted to he wanted to be killed. i mean, he so i but i don't blame our police, i mean, i my hat is off to all of them. i and as soon as that happened they they ran in the right place. >> do you think it do you think that something will change now? i mean, in terms of security planning preparations, do you think something needs to? >> no, i don't think. i mean, look, again, there are so many live big events here. it's huge. >> and this city is really good. i mean, the new orleans police department, for all the criticism they've gotten, is up in live events. they are very good at crowd control. we have a great chief. >> okay? i mean, it's like anything else. the police department is better sometimes. and other times i think right now is a good time for nopd to have shorthanded. but that's the nature of it. but, you know, we got to come together. people got to we got to come

they were talking about the heart of the french quarter, bourbon street, bourbon and canal street, whereng to new orleans for the sugar bowl planned for later today, but the police noting that it is believed that the majority of the people impacted by this horrific event are actually locals. the governor tweeting earlier today, and horrific act of violence took place on bourbon street. urging on the the scene to avoid the area. the white house has also been briefed on the tragedy but a number of outstanding questions remain, any potential motive in this incident, we don't have information on the suspect identity at this time. we are expecting a news conference in a couple of hours and we will follow that closely.>> thank you. stay with us. with president to our affiliate and they have a report on the scene where they are telling us there was a suspicious package that investigators are looking into. >> reporter: they found one right on the corner of bourbon and orleans were by the tropical aisle by which is a huge landmark for people wanting to party during mardi gras, new year's eve, oth

as chief kirkpatrick said, we are asking everyone to stay away from bourbon street. int ann's. that is my ask. once again, stay away from bourbon street, canal street, all the way to saint ann until we can figure out what is going on. our goal provide additional information at the 11:00 a.m. press conference. thank you so much and we will be in touch. >> yes. i will say that we want our community and our visitors to continue enjoying. there is so much to enjoy about new orleans and we are going to make sure that our routes and superdome are safe today for the game. and, we had this tragic event. and we are sorry, again, to everyone in our community. but we do want you to go about the day as we say. just stay away from bourbon. okay? >> could you elaborate on the device? you did say something about a device. >> we actually are not going to be taking questions this morning until we have more information. that's why we will give you an 11:00 briefing so, until then, please hold your questions, we will give you everything that we possibly can. okay? so, 11:00. we will see

a soft target bring in bourbon street.re's tons of drunk people look at 2:00 to 3:00 in the one, and that is exactly what that suspect plowed into. and you now have a situation with a lot of questions with people particularly in a state like new orleans, where they are scheduled to have the sugar bowl here later this afternoon. >> kennedy: and i say we will go for the organization. >> right, but events like this for months for possible security threats. bourbon street, new year's eve and new year's day don't because that is where people are normally reveling. there's plays out there. now they are trying to fill in, was this a islamic terror related incident or not? was it something else? we don't know the motive. ahead at press conferences one in which the fbi did themselves no favors because especially aletha duncan, who took over, said that it was not terrorism. right after the mayor, latoya cantrell said this is terrorism. and so now there's a lot of questions and people in new orleans, they also did not definitively cl

i am at the edge of the french quarter, bourbon street where this happen and canal street at the andis is moving into another neighbourhood about a mile from here, the investigation and i am told that the agents have now moved into a potential air b&b that was potentially being used and they have sent dogs in there and that is now a key part of their investigations that is their investigations that is the report i am giving locally that the investigation is still here but it does spreading out across the city. figs here but it does spreading out across the city.— across the city. as they say in the statement _ across the city. as they say in the statement they _ across the city. as they say in the statement they are - the statement they are aggressively, the word they use, running down all leads to identify any possible associates of the suspect and thatis associates of the suspect and that is because they are urgently trying to work out if he was trying to work on his own or if there was a wider conspiracy. own or if there was a wider conspiracy-_ conspiracy. this is a very small cit

that is bourbon street just down the block there, that is the iconic bourbon street where the attackre seeing fbi investigators coming in and out. the coroner's van right there, the flood lights to continue working through the night. this is one of the most lively areas for tourists in the entire country. there are still tens of thousands of people around the french quarter, and security remains very tight and very tense, especially given the fact this suspect likely did not act alone and there could very well be coconspirators still on the run tonight, mary. >> mary: trevor ault tracking it all from new orleans tonight, thank you. stay with abc news for continuous updates from new orleans on abc news live, abcnews.com, and the latest on "gma" in the morning. i'm mary bruce. have a good night.3, and the la "gma" in the morning. i'm mary bruce. have a good night. right now, well, this person committed a terrible assault on the city. >> the spirit of our new orleans will never, never, never be defeated. >> optimism from president biden after the deadly attack in new orleans. plus an ex

bourbon street.umber of vigils and memorials are starting to grow for the victims. >> such bravery and courage, such strength we are hearing and all of these interviews. george, where do things stand right now on the investigation? what's the focus? >> reporter: the investigation is ongoing, still trying to find a motive why the suspect chose bourbon street specifically, another thing that comes up is where these were. these archer barriers on the attack. you heard from the superintendent of police saying she didn't actually know if they had these. these had been deployed before, they are 700 pounds, they are reusable and intended to stop any vehicles from being able to get on the sidewalk. they are deployed here now but they were not there on the night of the attack. >> shorts elise reporting in new orleans, thank you. in addition to nbc's reporting and implementing the barriers the new york times is reporting new orleans officials were warned way back in 2019 about the faulty bollards which were un

on bourbon street come everyone was still out.d fire, suiting at least two police officers. the fbi says they found in ices flag inside the truck and say the fbi is investing ties to any terrorist organizations. you can see some of these photos, the white truck, the entire front end is smashed in. the authorities are all around it. and some of the pictures, this when you can see, it is a little difficult, in the right, you can see something hanging. i am being told by federal sources that is a black flag that could also lead to more information in this investigation about possible terrorist ties, so in ices flag found inside the car and then a black what looks like a flag hanging off the truck that rammed into dozens of people, killed at least ten people, injured so many others, we don't even know what kind of injuries they had, the videos we are looking at, people laying on the ground on bourbon street and his loved ones or passersby standing over motionless bodies in shock, as ambulances moved in and authorities came into try to

but, on bourbon street, the bollards weren't there. the system was in the midst of repair. >> they were not up, because they are near completion. with the expectation of being completed, of course, by super bowl. >> reporter: the game set to be played in new orleans next month. the superintendent of police says others were in place to secure bourbon street on new year's eve. but video shows how the attacker drove right around a patrol car. >> we did indeed had a plan, but the terrorist defeated it. >> anything in the midst of currently being repaired had a backup replacement? >> vehicles and officers were there where all of pollards about been. terrorists went all the way on the sidewalk. >> was it consideredmpossible or nearly impossible, or was this somomething you didn't thi you would have to account for? >> of course it wasn't something we thought we had to account for. >> reporter: following the german christmas attack last month. the berlin truck attack in 2016 and the one in nice, france the same year. jose was visiting new orle

and i'm glad they are reopening bourbon street. bourbon street is a place or congregation.enjoyment. it's a place for people to live freely. we can be in a society where every ten steps are checked. we don't want that. unfortunately, when you don't have that, you sometimes have a terrorist event. but we would come in our country, live freely as opposed to live in fear, and that is our challenge, let's live freely. >> sandra: okay. we are going to keep monitoring this. obviously, another big weekend, not just because of the football game. it's another holiday weekend here, and that is typically a very busy area of new orleans, still very few people in the streets but it looks like numbers are getting up there. thank you very much, senator. appreciate you coming on the program. >> thanks, sandra. >> sandra: keep us posted on the game. >> will do. >> we are very concerned about the risk of inspired attacks, lone actors here inspired by some of those same calls for violence from over in the middle east. >> jabbar declared his support for the terrorist group on social media, as

we just walked up bourbon street and a band _ we just walked up bourbon street and a band was_ we justs is_ a band was singing, we ain't scared. this is a _ a band was singing, we ain't scared. this is a new— a band was singing, we ain't scared. this is a new orleans thing, this is our cuitura — this is a new orleans thing, this is our culture. we know that we got to keep going — our culture. we know that we got to keep going. and whoever left, we are going _ keep going. and whoever left, we are going to _ keep going. and whoever left, we are going to keep going, and that's what this is— going to keep going, and that's what this is about. we are strung together— this is about. we are strung together and this is new orleans foreveh — together and this is new orleans forever. and this was not targeted at new_ forever. and this was not targeted at new orleans for some this could have been— at new orleans for some this could have been anywhere. and i think that a lot of— have been anywhere. and i think that a lot of cities in six or go to have these _ a lot of cities in six or go to have t

look, we are talking about bourbon street. we are talking about a vehicle that drove on the most narrow street eight blocks before it struck the lift truck. no vehicle should be able to drive on bourbon street on new year's eve. it's one of the most iconic streets in america. they know they have to protect it. they can protect it with a number of dump trucks and apparently they didn't do it. so for anyone to say, you can't prevent every attack, well, look. i understand you can't protect every block of the city. and i understand that if people are walking across canal street which you see in that shot where the police cruisers are and officers are holding the crime scene, and it's a five or six lane street, and when the crowds are there, they start to thin out because they are going to hotels and restaurants, you know, every block or two or three away from bourbon street, you can't have that protection everywhere. but you can have it on bourbon street. it's a narrow street. i think this is a gross failure of imagination to secur

i do want to take you to bourbon street to give our viewers an idea of where this happened. got the acme oyster house, the bourbon orleans. the ritz carlton is there nearby. speaking of text messages that not only did i get from friends and family, 6:17 a.m. because this is an active scene, we are urging residents to stay off bourbon from canal to romaine. right now much of the french quarter is completely shut down. i believe royal street was opened an hour ago. you got nopd bomb squad, state police, multiple local agencies. they're scouring the french quarter for any explosive devices planted presumably by the suspect. a couple hours ago, in fact, at least two suspicious devices were detonated by law enforcement. as you well know, all of these details are subject to change. look, you've got 26,000 hotel rooms in the french quarter and downtown new orleans. they're expected to be occupied about 82% this weekend. again, with tens of thousands of people flocking in and through the french quarter. new orleans superintendent anne kirkpatrick said this perpetrator -- let me see.

it will be a pedestrian only type of situation on bourbon street, i'm sure for the length of bourbon street, so that people can feel comfortable being in that particular environment. but you have to block off the streets and you have to do so in a way in which they can't be defeated by a vehicle. >> yeah. and then i do want to mention, according to two internal memos obtained by cnn, you had dhs and the fbi warning law enforcement just broadly last month of the threat of violence from lone offenders around the holidays and the potential use of vehicle ramming. we saw just a few, you know, of course, it feels like a few days ago, but it was a couple of weeks ago in magdeburg, germany, where we saw a vehicle used as a weapon to kill many people. and so often when that happens, you'll have officials in cities in the u.s. take that as a warning. oh, that could happen here. was that missed in new orleans? >> well, it was missed to an extent. obviously they had some security, but they had insufficient security. and whether or not they were reacting to that particular memo or not, in today's

they are stainless steel they go all across on bourbon street at those intersections.taken down to try and prepare for the super bowl. a source telling me the started upgrading the barriers in november, supposed to be wrapping up but hey, they still weren't done for new york new year's eve. investigators tell us 42-year-old shamsud din jabbar used to be in the army and was honorably discharged at some point. he is the person investigators say drove right onto bourbon street killing at least ten people, an american citizen who was living in texas. police say he drove a rental car into the crowd in new orleans, turning and trying to run as many people over as possible. i mean, imagine that you are out there celebrating, especially new orleans, and this happens. that only did he just uses car, he pulled out a gun and opened fire, shooting at least two police officers. so we talk a lot about what it looked like, but you can see in this video, somebody took it from one of the areas right above, from going out there, people go on all of these kind of areas to stand right out

it did involve a man driving a pickup truck down bourbon street. it was a fast pace and intentional behavior. he was trying to run over as many people as he could. >> bill cassidy with this message last hour. >> we have to hunt the terrorists down, bring them to justice and live on with our lives and not let them stop us doing what we normally do. >> bryan: david spunt on the federal investigation. first, alexis mcadams on the details as they develop. alexis? >> yeah, the death toll has stayed at ten. also we know there's more than 35 people that were injured. what were their injuries? they could have been severe we're told and transferred to local hospitals or they could have been from trying to run during this chaos. you have to put yourself out there. at 3:00 a.m., people were partying. they heard gunshots and the ramming from the truck that went in the crowd. people were trying to run for their lives. listen. >> what i can also tell you is that this man, this perpetrator, he fired on our officers from his vehicle when he crashed his vehicle. tw

there was a crowd on bourbon street a mix of tourist and local land white pickup street on bourbon street and get around barriers to ramming an attack accelerated him very, very fast plowed into the crowd up pedestrians killing at least ten, injuring roughly three dozen. initially, the police responded to the first call for active shooter because there were gunshots. went the suspect exited the vehicle he shut up the new orleans police officers into coofficers shot by gunfire and taken to the hospital in stable condition. and improvised devices found at the scene. the authorities have since tested them and determined at least one of them appeared to be a viable device. so it adds a degree of complexity to a evolving situation right now the police are scanning the french quarter using drones, cameras and other technology to see if they are additional possible devices. the ones they are currently finding our being destroyed. with a question when you think about new year's eve when you know bourbon street full of people. how does something like this happen and close enough for this attack to