FBI warns of potential 'copycat' vehicle ramming after deadly New Orleans attack
WASHINGTON – The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have issued a joint warning about the potential threat from violent extremists of a “copycat” vehicle attack like the one that killed 14 people in New Orleans on New Year’s Day.
The driver in that attack, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran who described himself as a member of the Islamic State group, was killed in a shootout with police. But federal authorities said vehicles remain an appealing weapon for attacks because they are easy to obtain.
“The FBI and DHS are concerned about possible copycat or retaliatory attacks due to the persistent appeal of vehicle ramming as a tactic for aspiring violent extremist attackers,” the agencies said Monday. “Previous attackers inspired by foreign terrorist organizations who have conducted vehicle attacks in the United States and abroad have used rented, stolen, and personally owned vehicles, which are easy to acquire.”
Vehicle-based attacks have become one of the deadliest forms of terror assaults worldwide, killing and injuring thousands of people internationally since they began becoming more frequent after the COVID-19 pandemic. Last month, a doctor from Saudi Arabia drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in Germany, killing five people and injuring more than 200.
In 2016, vehicle attacks internationally represented more than half of all terrorism-related deaths that year, according to one researcher's analysis of the open-source Global Terrorism Database.
"The accessibility of vehicles makes this a widespread threat (for) any gathering of people, whether for a New Year’s celebration or just a normal weekend on Bourbon Street," said Ryan Houser, a terrorism and mass-casualty-attack researcher and consultant who wrote a 2022 study on such attacks. "Vehicle ramming attacks have the ability to further democratize terrorism as a successful attack that merely requires a willingness to kill and can be completed by only one actor."
James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology, law and public policy at Northeastern University, said after the New Orleans attack that while vehicle rammings remain relatively rare among mass-casualty incidents in the United States, "they can be quite deadly" in contrast to a gun attack.
"In the U.S., at least with the prevalence of high-powered firearms compared to other nations, I suspect that rammings will remain a small share of incidents," Fox said. "Of course, if possible, barriers and street closings to protect crowds from vehicles would help, but in most situations that may not be practical."
Attackers also could use other weapons, such as firearms and knives, to attack people after the vehicle has stopped, according to the FBI and DHS. The New Orleans attacker had firearms and had placed a couple of improvised explosive devices along Bourbon Street that failed to detonate.
City officials said security barriers to vehicles known as bollards along Bourbon Street had been malfunctioning and were in the process of being replaced before the truck attack the day of the Sugar Bowl football game between Notre Dame and the University of Georgia. The schedule was to have the bollards replaced before the Super Bowl on Feb. 9, according to Mayor LaToya Cantrell.
The FBI and DHS asked people for help discouraging any future attacks.
"Targets have included pedestrians, law enforcement or military members, and crowded public venues, including festivals and commercial centers, which generally are accessible from roadways," the agencies said. "We ask that the public remain vigilant regarding possible copycat or retaliatory attacks and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement."