A festive New Year’s Eve turned to tragedy on Bourbon Street, New Orleans when Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, ploughed his pickup truck into a crowd, killing 14 and injuring 30.
A investigators piece together the events of the attack, glaring security failures—including malfunctioning bollards, missed warnings, and chaotic leadership—have come under fire.
The i Paper delves into how these lapses left New Orleans vulnerable to its deadliest terrorist attack in years.
The bollards that weren’t working
Bollards that could have prevented Jabbar from entering Bourbon Street were not operational, and in an even more embarrassing blunder, he simply drove around a police car stationed at the junction with Canal Street.
During a press conference, Anne Kirkpatrick, the Superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department, admitted: “We did have a plan, but the terrorist defeated it.”
Mayor LaToya Cantrell stated that New Orleans was in the process of upgrading the bollards and gave various excuses for their failure, including suggesting that Mardi Gras beads had jammed them. The upgraded bollards had not been completed, leaving the city exposed. Witnesses reported that only flimsy orange barricades blocked Bourbon Street, which were no match for Jabbar’s speeding F-150 truck.
Captain LeJohn Roberts of the New Orleans Police Department bluntly admitted that preventing a terrorist from driving onto the pavement “wasn’t something we expected to account for.”
The missed warnings
Five years before the massacre, New Orleans was warned about the exact type of attack that ultimately took place. According to The New York Times, a security company working for the French Quarter management group highlighted that the bollards “did not appear to work” and recommended immediate repairs.
The report by Interfor explicitly noted that “the two modes of terror attack likely to be used are vehicular ramming and active shooting.” Despite the warning, no action was taken to fix the bollards, which had been installed in 2017 after the Nice terrorist attacks. This negligence left Bourbon Street vulnerable.
The FBI’s shifting story
The FBI’s inconsistent narrative further muddled the aftermath of the attack. In the initial press conference, the FBI and Mayor Cantrell publicly disagreed on whether the incident was a terrorist attack. “Know that the city of New Orleans was impacted by a terrorist attack. It’s all still under investigation,” said Mayor Cantrell. However, the FBI’s Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Alethea Duncan, contradicted her seconds later, stating: “This is not a terrorist event.”
The FBI reversed its position hours later, confirming it was a terrorist attack. The confusion prompted the bureau to send Christopher Raia, its deputy assistant director of counterterrorism, to New Orleans to address the miscommunication.
Raia also corrected another claim: that Jabbar may have had accomplices. Surveillance footage initially appeared to show three men and one woman placing improvised explosive devices around the French Quarter. However, Raia clarified that the individuals were merely passers-by looking at coolers left by Jabbar. By then, Republicans were harshly criticising the FBI’s handling of the case, with speculation mounting that Duncan could face dismissal.
The off-the-rails press conference
On New Year’s Day, what should have been a controlled public update turned into a chaotic spectacle. At the second press conference, officials frequently interrupted one another, with no one appearing to be in charge.
Speakers included Duncan, Superintendent Kirkpatrick, Mayor Cantrell, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, and Republican Senator John Kennedy.
In a bizarre moment, Sen. Kennedy joked at the expense of an NBC reporter, quipping that being “here on the right” was an “unusual position” for the network. When the reporter responded, “I don’t get it,” Kennedy shot back: “You wouldn’t.”
Gov. Landry clashed with journalists, refusing to provide case details due to the ongoing investigation. Kennedy then took over, vowing to “raise fresh hell” if the FBI failed to clarify events. In another odd remark, Kennedy declared he would chase the FBI “like they stole Christmas.”
As New Orleans grapples with the aftermath of this devastating attack, questions linger about whether these failures will prompt meaningful change—or if the city remains vulnerable to future tragedies.