Security barriers removed for repairs ahead of New Orleans attack

Security checkpoints known as bollards were not in place before a suspect drove a truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ French Quarter on New Year’s morning, killing 14 people and injuring at least 35.

Louisiana officials have said the road barriers were in poor condition and were undergoing repairs ahead of the city hosting the NFL Super Bowl on February 9.

Short and sturdy poles – made of concrete, metal or other materials – are meant to prevent cars from entering pedestrian areas.

FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raya on Thursday described the attack as an act of terrorism.

In the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, a police vehicle was parked at an intersection to block access to Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, where the attack occurred, but the suspect drove around the car and onto the sidewalk, police said. Gone, police said.

Police have named Shamsuddin Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texas resident and U.S. Army veteran as the suspect. He died in the attack.

New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said Wednesday that police were “aware of the bollard situation” and took steps to “harden those targeted areas.”

“We actually had a plan, but the terrorist foiled it,” he said.

Ms. Kirkpatrick said the city planned to take several steps to increase security at the Sugar Bowl American football game, which has been moved from Wednesday to Thursday afternoon because of the attack.

Bourbon Street will be reopened Thursday shortly before the game.

“We have reopened the area,” Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said Thursday.

• Follow live updates on the attack Here

Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Wednesday that New Orleans began placing bollards on Bourbon Street ten years ago.

But, he added, the bollards began to malfunction due to blockages from Mardi Gras beads, forcing officials to try to replace them before the Super Bowl, which is scheduled to take place at the Caesars Superdome near the site of the attack.

At the press conference, Ms. Kirkpatrick defended other safety measures implemented in the city.

“We had a car there, we had barricades there, we had officers there and they still walked around,” he said.

Bollards have been installed in many cities in the US and around the world to prevent attacks.

New York City implemented safety measures on the Hudson River Park bike path in 2017 after a man drove a rented pickup truck into cyclists and runners on the path, killing eight people.

Javed Ali, a University of Michigan professor and counterterrorism expert, said it is very difficult to say with certainty whether such an incident could have been prevented had the New Orleans bollards been in place.

“He had a Ford 150 pick-up truck. You drive that thing at 50, 60 miles an hour, and who knows, even with the bollards in place, what the car – Physics “According to – you might have bumped into them anyway?” He said.

“There must have been a lot of luck involved,” Mr Ali said. “Unfortunately that’s what happens in these types of attacks.”

A 2017 report commissioned by the City of New Orleans found that the French Quarter was a “risk and target area for terrorism that the FBI has identified as a concern that the city should address”.

The report said the area “is frequently populated with pedestrians and represents an area where a mass casualty incident could occur”.