BOSTON – Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said the city is prepared to keep its residents safe at large events, in the wake of a deadly attack in New Orleans that left at least 10 people dead and dozens injured.
Officials said the man drove a pickup truck at a high rate of speed into a crowd of people celebrating the new year on the city’s famed Bourbon Street. The man was then killed in a shootout with police. He has since been identified as Shamsud Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen living in Texas.
“It’s just unthinkable that on a day of celebration, something so devastating would happen,” said Wu. “So we really send all of our condolences and our hearts are with those who have been impacted by that situation and all of the victims and their families and the entire city of New Orleans.”
“Just a horrific, horrific incident,” said Gov. Maura Healey.
Was New Orleans prepared?
Police said Jabbar drove onto the sidewalk, around parked police cruisers and metal barricades. WBZ-TV security analyst Ed Davis said the lack of bollards will be a key focus of the investigation. New Orleans’ more permanent structures were not in place, set to replaced ahead of the Super Bowl being held in the city next month.
“But the fact that that street was open is hugely problematic,” said Davis. He said the FBI will be looking at if the attack was a copycat incident after an attack in Germany last month. “Unfortunately, in this business, we pay attention to copycats and it’s quite possible this could be a copycat attack to what happened in Germany.”
Safety preparations in Boston
Wu said Boston is always concerned with public safety planning when the city hosts large events.
“When there are large crowds at major events, we definitely are in high gear in terms of public safety planning because it is a number of risks that can happen anywhere and our Boston Police and all of the partners that have it at various levels of law enforcement work really hard to anticipate and plan.”
CBS Boston
When asked how the city learns from events like New Orleans and the deadly attack in Germany last month, Wu said, “It’s fundamental, it’s why people live in cities, part of the human spirit is to be with each other and having in-person events where everyone can celebrate and know that they’re safe and be in community is a really fundamental part of what makes Boston Boston. We host some of the largest public events anywhere in the country with the Boston Marathon and other celebrations throughout the year. And so, there’s always a sense that months of planning can go into it, the unexpected can always happen but we do our very best with the technology, the preparation, the coordination to make sure that all of those situations are accounted for. To be able to block off streets with large vehicles so that vehicles can’t enter major thoroughfares, things like that. But we have to take care of each other, that’s why we always encourage everyone, ‘If you see something, say something,’ and we’re very grateful that in Boston, our celebrations have gone smoothly and people are enjoying their peaceful New Year’s Day now.”
Wu said she was not informed about any major incidents in Boston on New Year’s Eve.
“When you shut down Newbury Street, for instance, for a market that’s just open to pedestrians, you run the risk of an incident and that’s why the city of Boston tends to use these dump trucks filled with sand,” said Davis. “Those are pretty standard procedure right now and the fact that there didn’t appear to be one in New Orleans, I know they’ve used them in the past. So that’s certainly going to be a focus of this.”
No known threats to Massachusetts
Massachusetts State Police released a statement Wednesday saying they’re working with federal, state and local partners to monitor any new information to ensure safety in Massachusetts. They added at this time, there is no known connection to the New Orleans attack or any direct threat to Massachusetts.
“The Commonwealth Fusion Center, the state’s primary intelligence function, briefed Colonel Noble this morning and will keep Governor Healey and the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security apprised of any developments.,” said State Police in a statement.
