According to statistics collected over the past year by Edweek.org, there have been 221 school shootings, as well as 488 mass shootings according to BBC.Com. People have every right to fear for their safety considering these numbers. One thing that a lot of people were not expecting; however, was an incident in New Orleans on New Year’s Day that left people wondering if society would ever be rid of said violence.
On January 1st, 2025, a crowd was celebrating New Year’s when Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove what appeared to be a pickup truck through the crowd in a deliberate attempt to harm people. The death toll at the time of writing this article is 15, with some dying on the spot and others succumbing to their injuries days afterward. There are a number of injuries and this incident has left many still in intensive hospital care. Jabbar was born and raised in Texas near the Louisiana border and had seemingly been leading a normal life up to this point. Jabbar died in a police standoff just after the attack. It was uncovered later on that Jabbar had set up explosives in the area ahead of time, somehow without attracting police attention.
It has been reported that Jabbar allegedly had affiliations to ISIS – Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham – and investigators are split as to what this may have actually been. Some believe it to be a coordinated attack with ISIS, while others believe that the attacker acted alone. Whatever the case was regarding how this attack was facilitated, the effects were devastating and authorities in the area are deliberating on tighter safety precautions.
There was another incident a few hours later where a man named Matthew Livelsberger, an army veteran, blew up a cyber truck with seemingly very sophisticated explosives. This explosion took place outside of a hotel where Trump was and although this might not seem like a massive threat to the public, seeing as nobody but the attacker died, it still raised a lot of suspicion from the public.
As soon as the news broke out people were, as per usual, divided. Some, looking at the suspect and making assumptions, accused Jabbar of being an immigrant and launched into tirades about foreign policy. Others made these incidents out to be an issue of just plain violence. Many people feel as though they will never be safe from violence in this country, shooting or otherwise. Barely a day into the new year and people’s lives have already been lost to a malicious terrorist attack. This, along with the fact that the United Healthcare CEO was shot, leaves one to wonder what the rest of the year has in store if this is the way it starts out.
