new orleans – Both New Orleans Police Department officers Those injured in the Jan. 1 terrorist attack on Bourbon Street that left 15 dead, including attacker Chams al-Din Jabbar, are recovering after heroically neutralizing the ISIS-motivated perpetrator, according to their lawyers.
New York Police Department officers fatally shot Jabbar after he drove a Ford F-150 electric pickup truck into a New Year's crowd around 3:15 a.m. on January 1, killing 14. civilian and opened fire on the police in an act of violence. Terrorism driven by Islamic extremism.
“Both are expected to make a full recovery,” NOPD attorney Eric Hessler, a former NOPD officer himself, told Fox News Digital.
The two officers, whose identities have not yet been released, were on their way to an unrelated call early New Year's morning when the vehicle “passed by them and struck the crane,” Hessler said.
What we know about the victims of the terrorist attack in New Orleans
Authorities patrol Bourbon Street as it reopens in New Orleans, Louisiana, Thursday, January 2, 2024. Several people were killed and dozens injured after a man plowed his car into crowds of New Year's revelers on Bourbon Street on Wednesday. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)
“Within seconds, they responded and began doing what they were trained to do and what the situation required of them,” Hessler explained.
“They were engaged in a very traumatic, stressful and rapidly evolving set of events.”
Officers immediately began determining whether the vehicle collision was intentional or not, and when they realized it was likely intentional, police turned their weapons to address the matter. Active threat
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Investigators work the scene after a person drove a car into a crowd of people earlier at Canal and Bourbon streets in New Orleans, Wednesday, January 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
“They handled it correctly. They handled it the way they were trained. They are dealing with the consequences, as difficult as they are, the way they were trained,” the lawyer said.
Street camera video the morning of the attack shows a group of officers standing near Bourbon Street immediately running toward danger when a call came in about a suspicious car crash.
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Hessler also called the responding officers' actions “heroic” and “well-thought-out.”
“They had no opportunity to make actual tactical decisions among themselves. They acted as a team. Some of these men and women had never worked together before,” the lawyer said. “Many of them were from different jurisdictions. But the individual officers who were closest to the scene, who acted on the threat and eliminated the threat, did everything you would expect them to do and more, especially under these circumstances.”
Shams al-Din Jabbar appears in an undated photo released by the FBI after he was attacked on Bourbon Street in New Orleans with a pickup truck and died in a shootout with officers who responded to the attack. (FBI)
FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raya He said Thursday that authorities believe Jabbar acted alone. Officials also found two explosive devices in two different locations in the French Quarter after the terrorist attack. They were placed in coolers.
Experts say New Orleans attack may encourage ISIS to radicalize other Americans
A memorial to those killed in the New Year's attack stands on Bourbon Street after the street reopens in New Orleans, Louisiana on Thursday, January 2, 2024. Several people were killed and dozens injured after a man plowed his car into crowds of New Year's revelers on Bourbon Street on Wednesday. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)
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Before his rampage in New Orleans, Jabbar posted several videos on Facebook declaring his support In favor of the Islamic State (ISIS)The FBI said in a press conference on Thursday.
Victims of the attack identified as of Thursday include Martin “Tiger” Peck, 27; Drew Duffin, 26; Nikira Dido, 18 years old; Nicole Perez, 28; Reggie Hunter, 37; Hubert Guthro, 21; Karim Bilal Badawi. 18; Matthew Tenidorio, 25 years old; Billy DeMaio, 25; and Terrence Kennedy, 63 years old.
