New Orleans Terror Attack Sparks Questions: Letters to the Editor
The Situation: A terrorist attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day resulted in 15 fatalities.
In the early morning hours of January 1, 2025, an individual acting alone, motivated by ISIS ideology, drove a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar also set up two improvised explosive devices (“Terror trucker kills 15 in NOLA,” January 2).
Citizens should not have to live in fear; this malevolence must be eliminated — not handled with leniency.
Such an act could occur in any city: A deliberate and calculated endeavor to take lives and incite chaos.
Now is the time for heightened vigilance.
This could be an isolated event, or possibly the precursor to more attacks.
No one knows how many potential terrorists may be within the United States.
Severe consequences should await those who are found planning or executing acts of terrorism.
Joseph Comperchio
Brooklyn
Our federal government and the FBI are on high alert.
They conducted an investigation and, in less than 48 hours, concluded that Shamsud-Din Jabbar acted independently.
Is it feasible that they conducted a comprehensive analysis of this tragedy in such a brief timeframe?
Nevertheless, their communications department informed all media outlets that no additional individuals were involved.
We’ve encountered this narrative far too frequently.
J. Staskewicz
Southampton, NJ
The FBI asserts that this act of terror was a solo effort.
This conclusion is fundamentally flawed and lacking.
The FBI needs to investigate to determine whether there exists a network that influenced this individual to carry out this horrific act.
Did someone radicalize him?
Did an individual encourage him to murder at least 15 Americans?
The FBI must examine the mosque where he was converted.
It is essential to uncover the connections that led to this tragedy and hold all responsible parties accountable.
Antin Loew
Manhattan
FBI Assistant Special Agent Alethea Duncan’s initial remarks suggesting that the murder of 15 individuals by Jabbar was not an act of terrorism exemplify the dangerous narrow-mindedness of the current administration.
Unless Duncan and the numerous similarly misguided FBI agents are removed by incoming President Donald Trump, the slaughter of innocent Americans will persist.
Richard Sherman
Margate, Fla.
New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick remarked that her department had a strategy for securing New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street “but the terrorist outsmarted it.”
Who devised the plan that involved a single police vehicle blocking the entire roadway and sidewalks, leaving thousands of innocent individuals vulnerable?
When will law enforcement recognize the constant danger citizens face every day?
The threat is not limited to foreign terrorists, but also domestic ones, exacerbated by President Biden’s border policies.
What if there had been additional attackers?
The consequences could have been even more catastrophic.
Don Whitman
Cross River
In 2017, a terrorist used a rental truck to plow through a bike path in New York City, killing eight individuals.
When questioned during a press conference about the New Orleans attack regarding the lack of security on the sidewalk, an obvious vulnerability for vehicular access to Bourbon Street, Gov. Jeff Landry dismissed it as mere hindsight speculation.
Really?
Paul Kamenar
Chevy Chase, Md.
Another attack on U.S. soil raises important questions.
Why was the suspect allowed access to Bourbon Street?
Was he under FBI surveillance?
Did he have accomplices?
Sugar Bowl officials made the appropriate decision to postpone the game.
However, the Wednesday afternoon press briefing in New Orleans resembled more of a political circus than a media event.
God Bless the victims and their families.
Matt Engel
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Want to share your thoughts on today’s stories? Send your feedback (including your full name and city) to letters@nypost.com. Letters may be edited for clarity, length, accuracy, and style.
