TRANSCRIPT
It was a night meant for celebration, a city alive with music, laughter, and the promise of a new beginning.
But in an instant, the festive spirit of New Year's Day in New Orleans turned to terror, as a man drove his pickup truck into a crowd of revellers along Bourbon Street.
Then, gunfire.
At least 15 people are dead, and more than 30 are injured.
"Y'all need to get here. We have dozens of people hit by this car. ... "
"We have a medical pack, bring a medical pack. ... "
"I got at least maybe 12 to 15 people hit by this vehicle."
Zion Parsons was celebrating New Year with friends when the attack occurred.
He describes what he saw.
"Like around 3:15, everybody just chilling. We are having a good time. Music playing and all that. A truck, hits the corner and comes barrelling through people, throwing people like like a movie scene, like real life throwing people into the air. They falling under the car, all that. ... So after it gets past us, the guy, I didn't know was a terrorist, but the guy ends up getting out and shooting people, like he had ARs and bombs and all that, man. But the aftermath was really what got me, like bodies, bodies all up and down the street. Everybody screaming and hollering. You look down, you see somebody doing CPR, you look around people crying on the floor."
Alethea Duncan is an assistant special agent in charge with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
"The subject has been identified as 42 year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a US-born citizen from Texas. He was driving a Ford pickup truck which appears to have been rented. And we are working to confirm how the subject came into possession of this vehicle. 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 a terrorist organisation. Weapons and potential improvised explosive devices - IEDs - are located in the subject's vehicle. Other potential IEDs are also located in the French Quarter. As of now, two IEDs have been found and rendered safe."
Police are searching for others who may have been involved in placing the explosive devices in the area.
Ms Duncan says two police officers were injured during the attack in an exchange of gunfire with the attacker.
"After hitting the crowd, he exited the vehicle and fired upon local law enforcement, law enforcement returned fire and the subject was pronounced deceased at the scene. Two law enforcement officers were injured and transported to local hospitals."
She says the incident is being investigated as an act of terror.
"We are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism. We're aggressively running down all of the leads to identify the possible subject's associates. We're working to ensure that there is no further threat. We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible. We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates."
New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell says steel bollards which could have prevented the truck from entering Bourbon Street were still under construction.
"Bollards were not up because they are near completion, with the expectation of being completed, of course, by Super Bowl (in Feb). Wait, before Super Bowl. That is the reason."
New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick says police cars had been positioned where the bollards would have been.
"I have been aware of the bollard situation for a long time, and we did indeed harden those target areas where the bollards are. We had patrol cars out there as a hard target, as well as with barriers. Now I want to share with you all, if you did not know, that this particular terrorist drove around onto the sidewalk and got around the hard target where we did have a car there, we had barriers there, we had officers there, and they still got around."
As a result of the incident, a College Football Play-off match at the New Orleans Superdome has been postponed due to security concerns.
Jeff Hundley is the CEO of the Sugar Bowl.
"It's in the best interest of everybody and public safety that we postpone the game for 24 hours. Work is fast about to set up a safe and efficient and fun environment for tomorrow night. There'll be more details on that in the coming hours, but for now, that's the plan. We're going to move forward and play the game and again, we reiterate our thanks to everyone up here for the work, important work they're doing. We live in the fun and games world with what we do, but we certainly recognise the importance of this, and we're going to support it a hundred per cent."
Meanwhile in Las Vegas, Nevada, a Tesla Cybertruck has exploded at the entrance of the Trump International Hotel.
One person inside the Tesla was killed while seven bystanders suffered minor injuries.
Kevin McMahill is Sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
"We're very well aware of what has happened in New Orleans with the event that occurred there, and the number of victims there, and the additional IEDs. So as you can imagine, with an explosion here on iconic Las Vegas Boulevard, we are taking all of the precautions that we need to take to keep our community safe. We're looking for secondary devices. We're taking it slow, and we are going to make sure that we remain safe in our community."
CNN is reporting that authorities believe fireworks, gas tanks, and camping fuel were connected to a detonation system controlled by the Tesla Cybertruck driver.
Elon Musk, Tesla's owner, has stated on X that the explosion was caused by fireworks or a bomb in the rented Cybertruck's bed and unrelated to the vehicle itself.
He also praised the structural design of the Cybertruck, posting this on X:
"The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards. Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken."
Mr Musk, once a supporter of Donald Trump, left his economic advisory council after Mr Trump announced the US will withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.
Sheriff McMahill:
"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 it's something we continue to look at."
Authorities are investigating whether there is a link between both incidents.
