A CHILLING video shows the moment the terror suspect rammed through the police barrier at the beginning of the New Orleans terror attack.
The suspect, 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar, is then believed to have ploughed into revellers down Bourbon Street before opening fire and killing 15.
He was then gunned down by cops and killed.
Video posted to social media showed the white truck driving with traffic before sharply turning right and speeding past police.
Jabbar made the decision to drive onto the sidewalk to steer clear of a police car that was obstructing the road, along with bollards and officers who were present to ensure public safety, according to Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick.
Kirkpatrick revealed that the shooter navigated the pick-up truck down Bourbon Street at a high speed with the clear intention of harming as many individuals as possible by attempting to run them over.
She said: “This is not just an act of terrorism. This is evil.”
According to a state police intelligence bulletin obtained by AP, pipe bombs were discovered inside the vehicle, hidden within coolers and equipped for remote detonation.
The FBI said an ISIS flag was found attached to a white pipe sticking up from the hitch of the rented Ford pickup.
Some bollards were missing as they were being replaced ahead of February’s Super Bowl.
Kirkpatrick said: “So we did indeed have a plan, but the terrorist defeated it.”
Jabbar is a US Army veteran and was wearing full body armour and armed with an assault rifle for the attack.
Witness Whit Davis said people started running and hiding under tables.
He said he was horrified to see “dead and injured bodies all over the street”.
Kimberly Stricklin, visiting from Alabama for a concert with her husband, told CNN she saw the attack unfold.
She said: “The guy in the pickup truck just punched the gas and mowed over the barricade and hit pedicab passengers.
“There were just bodies and the screams. I mean, you can’t unhear that.”
The FBI is also investigating whether the suspect was firing from the truck during the rampage.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell says the city has been impacted by a “terrorist attack” and urged residents to avoid the area.
The truck is registered to a man from Houston that is not Jabbar, the New York Times reports, and has Texas plates.
ehicle sharing app Turo confirmed the truck had been rented through their site and they are now working with the FBI.
Jabbar isn’t believed to have acted alone in the attack and the FBI is “aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates.”
The identities of victims have begun to emerge following the tragedy with Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux named by her grieving mother.
Melissa Dedeaux said her 18-year-old daughter “was the sweetest person. She would give you anything, anything,” NOLA.com reports.
Other victims have been named as dad-of-two Reggie Hunter, 37, and football player Tiger Bech, 27.
Who was Shamsud Din Jabbar?
THE man police suspect drove his car into a crowd of New Year’s Eve revellers in New Orleans was 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar.
He is believed to have killed 15 people in what authorities are investigating as a terrorist attack before cops shot him dead.
More details are emerging about the US Army veteran who was born and lived in Texas.
Jabbar had a criminal history after being arrested in Katy, Texas, in 2002 for misdemeanor theft.
He was also arrested in 2005 for driving without an invalid license.
Documents viewed by The U.S. Sun confirmed Jabbar held a real estate license from 2019 until it expired in February 2021.
In a YouTube video uploaded on May 12, 2020, Jabbar introduced himself as a Team Lead for the Midas Group and Property Manager at Blue Meadow Properties.
He shared that he was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, but was living in Houston at the time of the video.
During his 10-year stint in the Army, Jabbar said he served as a human resources specialist and IT specialist.
Jabbar is a dad to two daughters and had two previous wives.
It’s unclear when his second divorce happened, but court files show that a restraining order was granted against him in 2020.
The New York Times reported a court document that the suspect filed in August 2022 as part of a divorce proceeding said he worked at the accounting firm Deloitte and made about $120,000 a year.
A ISIS flag was found in the truck by cops following the attack after it had been attached to a pole on the truck’s trailer hitch, the FBI said.
Jabbar had only converted to Islam within the last year and was “being all crazy” the new husband of his ex-wife said, the New York Times reports.
