NEW ORLEANS – Some people from the Peoria area were among the crowds visiting New Orleans for the New Year and for the college football playoffs.
They ended up being a little too close for comfort when a suspected terrorist rammed a truck through a crowd of people in New Orleans’ French Quarter, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more.
The driver, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, allegedly drove through barricades at Bourbon and Canal Streets around 3 a.m. Wednesday, then was killed during a gun battle with local police.
“To come home after New Year’s and wake up to this is stunning,” said Peoria County Regional Schools Superintendent Beth Crider, who is in New Orleans to watch the Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia.
Crider tells 25 News, Bourbon Street was thriving just after midnight when she walked back to her hotel.
“Anywhere, something like this can happen, and it’s just such a sad statement [about] the current affairs that you always have to know in the back of your mind what your safety plan is,” Crider said.
The FBI is investigating the incident as an act of terrorism because Jabbar had an ISIS flag and carried explosive devices in his truck.
Peoria-based Pipco Companies President Steve Ciccirelli said he and his family also left Bourbon Street around midnight. He heard sirens and saw lights outside his window, but didn’t think much of the noise and went back to bed.
“I thought it was probably some fights going on or something like that; typical, late-night problems, not terrorist attacks,” Ciccirelli said.
The French Quarter was mostly empty and quiet after the attack, Ciccirelli adds.
Ciccirelli was also in New Orleans to watch Notre Dame. The game was postponed to Thursday after the attack.
Crider said she plans to stay and still feels safe in the city; however, Ciccirelli is flying home instead of watching Notre Dame compete in-person for the national championship.
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