[1][2] In a 2017 memo, the city government also noted the risks of a mass casualty incident, including from a vehicle attack in the French Quarter, and it had plans to increase security in the area.

[5] American officials were concerned about the potential for lone wolf attacks and efforts by the Islamic State's Khorasan branch to recruit new members by spreading propaganda online and radicalizing vulnerable populations.

[6] The New Year celebrations in the city included parties on Bourbon Street and a parade for the 2025 Sugar Bowl, one of New Orleans's major sporting events, which was scheduled to take place on the night of January 1 at Caesars Superdome between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

[6][7] After exiting traffic, the perpetrator, Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, drove the truck onto the sidewalk to bypass a police SUV and other barricades that had been placed to protect Bourbon Street.

New Orleans police officers returned fire[10] and killed Jabbar in the shootout by shooting him four times in the torso and giving him a grazing wound.

[2][21] Jason Williams, the district attorney for Orleans Parish, said that "driving a vehicle into a crowd is not particularly a thing that any law enforcement agency can be prepared for".

[22] The city had previously deployed permanent vehicle barriers known as bollards to stop cars from entering the French Quarter, but they had frequently malfunctioned.

[8][22] The city still had the temporary Archer vehicle barriers acquired back in 2017, but for reasons that remain unclear, did not deploy them until after the attack had already occurred.

[c] Six further fatalities resided in Louisiana: Kareem Badawi, 18; Hubert Gauthreaux, 21; Reggie Hunter, 37; Nicole Perez, 27; Brandon Taylor, 43; and Elliot Wilkinson, 40.

[34] All but one of the remaining victims were from elsewhere in the United States: Andrew Dauphin, 26; Nikyra Dedeaux, 18; William DiMaio, 25; and Matthew Tenedorio, 25.

His father, a convert to Islam born in Houston, changed his surname from Young to Jabbar; his mother remained a Christian.

[47] He enrolled at Georgia State University in 2015 and graduated in 2017,[44] receiving a Bachelor of Business Administration in computer information systems.

He secured a job at Deloitte in 2021[46] as a "senior solutions specialist" in government and public services with a yearly salary of $120,000, a quarter of which was spent in alimony and child support.

[45] In 2024, Jabbar moved to a Muslim community north of Houston, where he isolated himself, and started publishing recordings to SoundCloud, in which he espoused conservative religious views.

He said he wanted his act to highlight the "war between the believers and the disbelievers"[45][64] and that he had considered organizing a family "celebration" where he would have them "witness the killing of the apostates.

[1][6] After an urgent search by the ATF, it is concluded that the rifle was obtained legally through a transaction with an individual in Arlington, Texas on November 19, 2024.

[65][64] On January 4, the deputy assistant director of the FBI's counterintelligence division said that investigators "do not assess at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack except Shamsud-Din Jabbar.

[72] The same day, at approximately 8:39 a.m., a Tesla Cybertruck exploded and caught fire outside of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada, killing the perpetrator and injuring seven other people.

[77][78] The perpetrator of the Las Vegas explosion rented it from the Turo app like Jabbar and both reportedly served at the same military base.

[50] U.S. President Joe Biden contacted Mayor LaToya Cantrell to offer support[6] and released a statement saying that his "heart goes out to the victims and their families who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday".

[26] Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson,[6][26] its majority leader Steve Scalise,[81] and president-elect Donald Trump[6][26] also condemned the attack.

[4][93] Superintendent Kirkpatrick expressly refused to cast blame when asked by a journalist whether she was upset that she had not known in advance about the city's Archer barriers.

Local workers in the French Quarter interviewed by NBC News were appalled by the city's failure to deploy Archer barriers to block sidewalks before the attack.

[95] In the meantime, Peter Whitford, the chief executive officer of Meridian Rapid Defense Group, traveled to New Orleans to assist the city with properly deploying Archer barriers.

[95] The National Football League expressed confidence that spectators and participants alike would have a safe and enjoyable experience at the Super Bowl.

[96] The NFL and Saints also provided a $1 million donation to help the families of the victims as well as a league-wide moment of silence for all week 18 games.

Following his death's announcement, he dropped his phone and began breaking down in tears before his aunt called him and told him his brother was responsible for the attack.

[98] The Islamic Society of Greater Houston expressed its condolences to the victims of the attack, saying it was "horrified by the senseless crime targeting civilians" and that "ISGH has a longstanding absolute zero-tolerance policy against extremism and suspicious activities.

[110] Pope Francis said he was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injuries in the attack and offered prayers to the victims.

[112][113][114] On January 9, the Islamic State, in the 477th issue of its weekly newsletter "Al-Naba", praised the attack and Jabbar himself, calling on other supporters to follow in his footsteps.