To process tragic New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans, Chicagoans cancel events and focus on aid

In the hours after New Orleans officials announced that at least 15 people had been killed and 30 were injured in an attack on a crowd of New Year’s revelers, Chicagoans with ties to the city, and the Sugar Bowl college football game that it was due to host, said they were still struggling to process the events.

In the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, a driver identified as Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar plowed through a crowd of pedestrians gathered on New Orleans’ historic Bourbon St., in an attack that’s being investigated as an act of terrorism by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The agency said it does not believe Jabbar, who was killed in a shootout with police, acted alone.

Nina Moffa, president of the Tulane Club of Chicago, lived in New Orleans for 14 years. After eventually resettling in Chicago, she began volunteering with Tulane University’s local alumni chapter to maintain a connection to the New Orleans university, which she said instilled in her a commitment to public service.

“It’s just super upsetting that what should have been a celebration turned into a horrific tragedy,” said Moffa, who added that watching people spring into action, to offer the victims’ aid, has been a balm.

She said she hopes that the attack which marred the onset of the new year doesn’t also tarnish the public’s view of New Orleans’ inspiring trajectory. In the same 70,000-seat Superdome that housed residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina twenty years ago, the city will be hosting the National Football League Super Bowl next month.

At the college level, officials announced Wednesday that the quarterfinal Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame, originally scheduled for 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at the Superdome, was pushed back to 3 p.m. Thursday.

“We are trained for these events,” Moffa said of New…

Source link : https://www.yahoo.com/news/process-tragic-day-attack-orleans-055400855.html

Author : Chicago Tribune

Publish date : 2025-01-02 05:54:00

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