Allstate Sugar Bowl is postponed until Thursday night
NEW ORLEANS — The College Football Playoff quarterfinal game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Georgia Bulldogs will be played Thursday. A terrorist attack killed ten people and injured 35.
The decision to postpone the game was made out of the highest regard for precaution amid the ongoing investigation. FBI is bringing in people from Quantico and leading the investigation as an act of terrorism after a pickup truck plowed into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day.
A student at the University of Georgia has been identified as one of the injured victims. The student is in critical condition.
Shamsud Din Jabbar is identified as the primary suspect
At 3:13am, Central Standard Time, an individual drove a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 10 individuals and injuring 35 more. After hitting the crowd, he exited the vehicle and fired upon local law enforcement. Law enforcement returned fire and the suspect, identified as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar. Jabbar is a native-born citizen of the United States of America. Police fatally shot him after the attack and was pronounced deceased at the scene. Two law enforcement officers were injured and transported to local hospitals.
Plus, Jabbar is a veteran of the United States Army and has worked in the information technology department at Deloitte.
As of now, two IEDs were found. The FBI Special Agent bomb technicians as well as New Orleans local law enforcement partners have been working to determine if any of these devices are viable, and they will work to render those devices safe.
“I want to thank our law enforcement officers,” said Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry. “I want to thank our medical personnel, and I want to thank our first responders. And most importantly, I want to thank the two New Orleans police officers who not only laid their life on the line, but were able to eliminate the threat this morning. Let me say we have made public safety a state priority from day one.”
The FBI says they do not believe that he acted alone in this attack. They are actively searching for other suspects and potential connections that he may have had that is new information.
Public safety paramount ahead of big events
Bollards designed to block vehicle access into portions of the French Quarter may have been down because of repairs. The New Orleans Superintendent of Police, Anne Kirkpatrick, said the suspect drove around the barricades and onto the sidewalk. The bollards were not functioning and as such, they were not up prior to the attack.
“The decision that was made to postpone the game was not done lightly. It was done with one single thing in mind, public safety,” said U.S. Representative Troy Carter. “Making sure that the citizens and visitors of this great city, not only for this event, but for every event you come to in Louisiana, that you will be safe. Our energy, our commitment, will be to make sure that you are safe now and for every event in the future.”
The prevailing questions is why were the bollards out at this time when everyone knew that there was going to be huge pedestrian events on Bourbon Street, for New Year’s Eve and for the Sugar Bowl? Governor Landry and U.S. Senator John Kennedy promised they will get to the bottom of what happened.
State Leadership promises swift justice
“Okay, once the FBI has a chance to investigate all this, I’m all working with state police, working with Homeland Security, working with the City of New Orleans, they’re going to tell you what happened,” said Kennedy. “I can promise you that, or I’m going to raise fresh Hell. But right now, they’re in the process of trying to catch the other bad guys, and I want to give them the benefit of the doubt for a while.”
“I tell you one thing, your Governor going to be there,” said Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry. “That is proof, believe you me, that that facility [the Superdome] in this city is safer today than it was yesterday.”
