Overview

The New Orleans Truck Attack took place on New Orleans' Bourbon Street in the early hours of January 1st, 2025, leaving 15 people dead and 30 injured. The truck reportedly bore an ISIS flag and was being driven by a U.S. Army veteran, later identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabba. Viral videos, news coverage and reactions to the incident, which was later labeled a terrorist attack by many, spread online in early January 2025. Several internet users also drew comparisons between the driver in the Las Vegas Trump Hotel Cybertruck Explosion and the driver in the New Orleans attack, given that both drivers were U.S. Army veterans previously stationed in the same base (Fort Bragg) and that both drivers rented their vehicles from the same app, Turo. The attack, in combination with the Cybertruck incident, notably led to many memes discussing how 2025 was off to a rocky start since both occurred on New Year's Eve.

Background

Early on January 1st, 2025, a man drove a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana at approximately 3:15 a.m. local time on New Year's Day. The driver killed 15 people and injured at least 35 others before he was fatally shot by police soon after he exited his truck upon crashing and the vehicle becoming disabled.^[1]

There was some confusion about whether the truck attack would be classified as a terrorist attack immediately after the event, with New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell using the words "terror attack," only to be corrected by an FBI agent at the same press event on January 1st, as seen in a video posted to YouTube^[10] by LiveNOW from FOX that garnered over 63,000 views in a day.

However, the attack was described in definitive terms as a terror attack in subsequent press events, as seen during a press conference in which the attacker was revealed as 42-year-old former U.S. Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar from Texas.^[11]

Developments

Some subsequent news reports indicated that the incident may be a terrorist attack linked to ISIS, given that a black ISIS flag was spotted in the back of the truck.^[4] Redditor^[2] /u/Zealousideal_You_938 posted an image of the flag seemingly hoisted upside down on a pole to the subreddit /r/pics on January 1st, 2025, gathering over 31,000 upvotes in a day.

That same day, Redditor^[3] /u/Curiositykeepsmeup posted an image of the supposed ISIS flag tied up and concealed during preliminary police investigations, writing, "The terrorist’s flag being hidden at the New Orleans new years mass casualty incident," gathering over 47,000 upvotes in a day on the /r/pics post.

Also on January 1st, 2025, the Daily Mail posted a "resurfaced" video of Jabbar to TikTok^[5] in which he introduces himself as a property manager and describes his background. The video gathered over 18 million views and 500,000 likes in a day. The video was reposted to the subreddit /r/interestingasfuck^[9] by Redditor /u/lifo888 later that day, receiving over 13,000 upvotes and 2,600 comments in 17 hours.

Online Reactions

President-elect Donald Trump addressed the incident on his Truth Social^[6] account on January 1st, 2025, writing, "When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country […] it turned out to be true […] Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department." The post gathered over 50,000 likes but also drew criticism for linking the NOLA attack to immigrant issues since the suspected attacker was a U.S. citizen.^[7][8]

Many internet users also attempted to draw a link between the NOLA truck attack and the Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion as the two events spread online in early January 2025,^[15] with the X account @AutismCapital asserting that Shamsud-Din Jabba and Matt Livelsberger were both stationed at same military base (Fort Bragg). Moreover, both attackers acquired their vehicles through the car rental app Turo.

Denver7 reporter Tony Kovaleski^[12] posted that authorities were investigating any possible link between the two attackers on January 2nd, 2025, gathering over 1,000 likes in a day.

President^[13] Joe Biden issued a statement on January 1st saying that the nation "grieves" with the people of New Orleans and that he has "directed [his] team to provide every resource necessary to support the ongoing investigation and ensure there is no remaining threat to the American people."

To all the people of New Orleans grieving today, our nation grieves with you.I've directed my team to provide every resource necessary to support the ongoing investigation and ensure there is no remaining threat to the American people. pic.twitter.com/4TlJnJHZte

— President Biden (@POTUS) January 2, 2025

On January 2nd, 2025, Redditor _simple_man posted a Hey Little Man How's It Goin? meme to the subreddit /r/dankmemes^[14] commenting on the multiple violent events that took place around the new year, receiving over 720 upvotes and 30 comments in eight hours.

Search Interest

External References