WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden addressed the nation on Wednesday after a terrorist attack in New Orleans killed 15 people and injured dozens more, calling the attack “despicable.”
“I want you to know I grieve with you. Our nation grieves with you. We’re going to stand with you as you mourn and as you heal in the weeks to come,” Biden said during his remarks, which were delivered at Camp David in Maryland.
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The president said that the FBI told him that just hours before the attack, the suspect posted videos to social media “indicating that he was inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill.”
Biden also noted that “the investigation is continuing to be active, and no one should jump to conclusions.” He said he would keep the country “fully contemporaneously informed.”
The president thanked first responders, as well as homeland security and law enforcement officials.
Just hours into the new year, a suspect drove a truck with an ISIS flag through a crowd in New Orleans. The suspect, who has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, died during a gunfight with police. Jabbar was a U.S. citizen and Army veteran.
In the wake of the attack, the Sugar Bowl college football game was postponed to 4 p.m. Thursday ET in New Orleans. It was originally scheduled for Wednesday night, but the delay “will allow for additional security resources to be put in place in order to maintain the typical standards of a major event in the Caesars Superdome,” according to a statement issued by the bowl game.
The White House said earlier Wednesday that the president held a call with top homeland security and law enforcement officials, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Biden also released a statement on the attack earlier Wednesday, noting that he directed his team “to ensure every resource is available as federal, state, and local law enforcement work assiduously to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible and to ensure that there is no remaining threat of any kind.”
