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Eyewitnesses recount New Orleans truck attack: 'Can't get over her screams'
The suspect has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a US Army veteran.
At least 15 people were killed in the US city of New Orleans on Wednesday after a man drove his pickup truck deliberately at high speed into a crowd of New Year's revelers. Eyewitnesses described the accused's act as "insanity" and the aftermath as a "war zone".
18-year-old Zion Parsons, who had come to the city to celebrate the New Year, said the attack was like scenes in a movie. "It was just like a movie. That's the only way I can explain it," he said.
He said the speeding truck threw bodies in the air. "There were bodies and blood and all the trash...The best way I can describe it is truly a war zone," he said.
Jimmy Cothran, another witness, said he saw injured people "yelling with no one around".
"When we got on the balcony, what we saw was insanity. I mean, something out of a movie. I mean, the graphic nature of it. It was unbelievable," he said.
Kimberly Stricklin and her husband Michael said they saw the truck accelerating and then heard it making an impact.
"We heard him punch the gas and then the impact and then the screams. It just took a moment to register, it was just so frightening -- it was like something out of a horror movie," she said.
Stricklin said she was haunted by the screams of one young victim.
"I can't get over that girl's screams," she added.
Who was the suspect?
The suspect has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a US Army veteran. He was a human resource specialist and an IT specialist in the military. He held a degree in computing from Georgia State University and lived in Houston, Texas. After crashing his vehicle, he opened fire and died in a shootout with the police.
With inputs from AFP, AP
