American ex-serviceman, who allegedly was “inspired” by the jihadist organization Islamic Statedrove a rental van into a New Year’s Eve crowd early Wednesday in a heavily touristed French neighborhood of New Orleans, killing at least 15 people and injuring about 30 others.

Speaking of a “heinous” attack, outgoing American President Joe Biden addressed the citizens last night (local time). He pointed out that the attacker, who after stopping the car opened fire on police officers, who returned fire and killed him, had uploaded videos to social networking sites indicating that he was “inspired by the Islamic State” and “wanted to kill” as many people as he could .

“The spirit of New Orleans will never be defeated,” he assured, adding that law enforcement is “working tirelessly” to crack down on the “heinous” act.

Researchers are working to “ascertain possible connections and links of this person with terrorist organizations» and if there were accomplices in the attack in Louisiana, authorities said, without elaborating.

US media reported that investigators are studying video that appears to show three men and a woman planting explosive devices before the attack.

President Biden also said authorities were trying to determine whether there was any “connection” to the New Orleans attack, which was carried out in an electric Ford pickup truck, to the explosion of Tesla’s Cybertruck electric vehicle in front of a hotel of the Donald Trump chain in Las Vegas, where one person lost his life. “So far”, however, the outgoing head of state hastened to add, there is nothing to indicate the slightest relationship.

The attack came less than three weeks before the transition of power from Democratic President Joe Biden to Republican-elect Donald Trump in an electrified political climate.

Who was the perpetrator?

The suspect in the attack, 42 ​​years old, according to the federal police (FBI) was named Shamsud Din Jabbarwas an “American citizen from Texas” and had served in the Army. He served from 2007 to 2015 and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009-2010, retiring with the rank of sergeant, according to the Ministry of Defense.

The photo of the perpetrator:

His brother Abdul Jabbar described him as “love”, explaining to the New York Times that he was a Muslim from a young age but in recent years it has passed “a form of radicalization».

A friend from childhood told the same newspaper that they met again in 2017 and found that he had become “really passionate” about his faith.

The FBI said an “ISIS” banner was found in the car he had rented, and that two improvised explosive devices were also found inside the pickup truck and in New Orleans’ French Quarter, which were defused.

After plowing into the vehicle, killing and injuring dozens of bystanders, the man was killed in a shootout with police. Two police officers were injured — they are in “stable” condition.

The attack was committed at around 03:15 (local time; 11:15 Greek time), when, driving the white pickup truck, he drove it into a crowd in the famous Vieux Carré, or French Quarter, of New Orleans, trying to “kill as many more people he could,” Sheriff Anne Kilpatrick said yesterday morning.

“He was absolutely determined to cause carnage,” he insisted.

FBI Special Agent Alithia Duncan told the press that “we do not believe that Jabbar acted alone,” that he may have had “accomplices.”

An AFP journalist approached the vehicle he turned into a weapon, a Ford F-150, very popular in the US, in its electric version. He had rented it through a special digital app.

President-elect Trump, who campaigned on decrying illegal immigration, was quick to link the attack to the millions of illegal immigrants in the country. He asserted, without any presumption, that “the criminals who come (to the US) are much worse than the ones we have in our country.”

The attack took place in a neighborhood that really never sleeps during the year, much less on New Year’s Eve, between Canal and Bourbon streets.

Well known for the restaurants, bars and jazz clubs that operate there, the neighborhood with a French colonial air is also home to cabarets and is frequented by several members of the LGBT+ community.

Eyewitness Zion Parsons told CNN the situation reminded him of a “war zone.” Another, Jim Maurer, told CBS News that the vehicle plowed into the crowd at “a high rate of speed” before the driver got out and opened fire, sparking a shootout with police.

“We were seeing a lot of people hit, we wanted to see if we could help them” but many were already “unfortunately dead,” he added.

New Orleans, the largest city in the state of Louisiana, is among the most famous tourist destinations in the USA, especially for Europeans.

The city was going to host a major American college football game, the Sugar Bowl, yesterday. The match was postponed for 24 hours.