Body-worn camera footage released by the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) shows the moment officers first encountered Shamsud-Din Jabbar—the allegedly ISIS-inspired attacker who plowed his truck into a New Year’s Day crowd on Bourbon Street, killing 14 and injuring dozens.
A flurry of shots is heard on the clip after Jabbar opens fire from behind an airbag when officers surround the white Ford F-150 Lightning pickup truck he had crashed around 3:15 a.m.
“After the officers surrounded the pickup truck, the driver fired at them,” an accompanying NOPD statement said. “Three officers—Sergeant Nigel Daggs and Officers Christian Beyer and Jacobie Jordan—returned fire. The driver was pronounced deceased on scene.”
The approximately 15-second video from Officer Luis Robles’s body-worn camera shows Beyer standing beside the truck’s open driver’s side door with his gun raised while Jordan also had his weapon drawn. Beyer can be heard identifying himself and ordering Jabbar to exit the vehicle.
Officers shouted, “Put your hands up,” before Robles turned and ran for cover as shooting erupted. The video shows the flash from what appears to be a gun muzzle emerging from the driver-side door, firing in the direction of officers.
NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick, speaking at a Jan. 10 press conference, called the officers “national heroes” and said they “killed the terrorist.”
She said two officers were wounded in the exchange. Jordan and Officer Joseph Rodrigue, who did not fire his weapon, both had thigh wounds. Rodrigue also suffered a broken shoulder. Both have since been released from the hospital.
According to the NOPD statement, the three officers who fired their weapons included Daggs, a 21-year veteran, Beyer, and Jordan, who each have served nearly two years with the department.
Following NOPD policy, the officers involved in the shooting were initially placed on administrative reassignment but were cleared for full duty status on Jan. 9, Kirkpatrick said at the press conference. She declined to specify how many shots were fired, citing ongoing investigations and pending litigation.
Kirkpatrick also declined to comment on whether any officers or bystanders had been hit by friendly fire.
The incident began when Jabbar drove around a police car blockading access to the city’s famous Bourbon Street and into a crowd of revelers.
A group of victims has since filed a lawsuit against the city and two contractors, claiming they failed to implement adequate security measures.
There are no plans to release additional body-worn camera footage at this time, NOPD Public Information Officer Sgt. Barry Fletcher told The Epoch Times in an email.
When asked whether officers attempted to perform life-saving measures on the suspect after they exchanged fire, Sgt. Fletcher referred The Epoch Times to the FBI, which is investigating the incident.
The FBI did not respond to a request for that information before publication time.
