New Orleans officials were warned in 2019 that Bourbon Street was vulnerable to car-ramming attack
New Orleans city leaders were warned in a 2019 confidential physical security assessment that tourist-packed Bourbon Street was vulnerable to a vehicle-ramming attack because some of the existing blockade mechanisms were inoperable.
The warning proved painfully real five years later on New Year’s Day when a Texas man, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, drove through pedestrians on Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring dozens of others in a truck-ramming and gunfire attack. Jabbar, who had proclaiming his support for ISIS, was shot and killed by New Orleans police at the scene.
New Orleans first installed metal security barriers on Bourbon Street in 2017 following the 2016 truck terror attack on Bastille Day in Nice, France. That same year, a report prepared by the infrastructure consulting firm AECOM noted that Bourbon Street "is often densely packed with pedestrians," presenting "a risk and target for terrorism."
Two years later, a security assessment prepared for the French Quarter Management District by the security firm Interfor International faulted the bollards that had been installed.
"Some of the bollards were inoperable for a number of reasons," Don Aviv, president of Interfor International, said. "Some were broken and some were kept down for ease of use."
The existence of the 2019 assessment was first reported by The New York Times.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the city had been in the process of renovating the malfunctioning bollards before hosting the Super Bowl in February.
"Bollards were not up because they are near completion, with the expectation of being completed by Super Bowl,” Cantrell said. "Because the City of New Orleans is hosting Super Bowl this year, it gave the City of New Orleans an opportunity to go further and deeper with infrastructure improvements."
New Orleans police parked a cruiser to block Bourbon Street on New Year's Eve.
"We did indeed have a plan, but the terrorist defeated it," New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said.
Video of the attack shows the suspect's truck moving along Canal Street and making a right turn, moving around the police cruiser by driving onto the sidewalk. Aviv suggested it should not be so simple.
"For the type of environment the French Quarter is, there should be a systemic process to control traffic and to protect pedestrians," Aviv said.
The French Quarter Management District told ABC News in a statement that it's always focused on public safety.
"In 2019, the Board commissioned a study on Safety and Security in the French Quarter. This study was shared with our partners in the City of New Orleans, and its recommendations were made public," the statement said. "The strength of our ongoing partnership with the City and NOPD allows open communications of resident and business concerns and the results of any studies or reports completed."
ABC News' Jared Kofsky contributed to this report.
