President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that a deadly attack targeting New Year’s Eve revelers in New Orleans, Louisiana was evidence of his dire assessment of crime in America, pledging to “fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!”
“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true,” Trump wrote on social media. “Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones.”
President Joe Biden, in his own statement, said the FBI is spearheading the federal investigation and examining the incident as an act of terrorism.
“I have directed my team to ensure every resource is available as federal, state and local law enforcement work assiduously to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible and to ensure that there is no remaining threat of any kind,” Biden said. “There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities.”
Statements from the current and incoming presidents followed a horrific scene on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street, where a driver rammed into a crowd of pedestrians around 3 a.m. on New Year’s Day, killing 10 people and injuring 35 victims.
At a press conference, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the incident as a “terrorist attack” and the city’s police chief said the act was intentional.
According to the New Orleans Police Department, the driver stopped the vehicle and opened fire on local officers, who returned fire. The driver was struck and pronounced dead at the scene.
Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed that the incident is being investigated by the FBI as an act of terrorism in a statement Wednesday morning.
“The FBI, the ATF, the Justice Department’s National Security Division, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana will continue to work with our law enforcement partners and will deploy every available resource to conduct this investigation.”