Let the Good Times Roll: Terror truck attack too Easy in the Big Easy

From historic snowfall to an unprecendented terror attack early on New Year's Day, January 2025 has been one for the record books for New Orleans. 

The Big Easy is always a good time. It's a city open to celebration no matter what day of the week or month of the year, there's always good food, drink, dancing and debauchery. 

For folks in Northwest Florida, and all along the Gulf Coast, it's often the first place you think of for fun and the last place you'd imagine someone would target for terror.

But that's what 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar did. He didn't come to celebrate, he came to seek, kill, and destroy. 

Police say he used a truck as a high-speed battering ram down Bourbon Street, one of the most jubiliant destinations in the South, knocking people down like bowling pins and crushing them under his tires. 

As if that wasn't enough, investigators say they found IEDs in his cooler and strategically placed in the French Quarter, along with an ISIS flag on the back of the truck he rented to allegedly kill people. 

Jabbar's three-block reign of terror ended with the deaths of 15 people, including himself, and he injured 35 others before he was stopped. 

The Crescent City is always going to be NOLA Strong and will never be dampened by devils, even though this one tried. Join us for the latest episode of Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, "Let the Good Times Roll: Terror truck attack too Easy in the Big Easy."