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FIRST ON FOX – NEW ORLEANS – Within the aftermath of the Jan. 1 terrorist assault on Bourbon Road and between main tourist-heavy occasions in New Orleans, officers with Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) are getting ready to fight any potential threats throughout Tremendous Bowl LIX.
HSI was the lead company initially assigned to coordinate safety for the Tremendous Bowl, and preparations started a couple of yr in the past, Eric DeLaune, particular agent in cost for HSI in New Orleans, instructed Fox Information Digital.
“New Orleans has some distinctive challenges. The realm right here is a bit more unfold out for a Tremendous Bowl,” DeLaune, lead federal coordinator for Tremendous Bowl LIX, mentioned. “The elephant within the room is the assault that occurred on Jan. 1. We’d be silly if we did not use what we have realized from that to tell how we go ahead and the way we adapt plans … to ensure we are able to account for gaps and various places that could be of concern now in that post-attack timeline.”
Simply over a month earlier than the Tremendous Bowl, within the early morning hours of New 12 months’s Day, terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar plowed a pickup truck by crowds of individuals celebrating the vacation on Bourbon Road, killing 14 civilians and injuring 57 others. New Orleans cops fatally shot Jabbar when he exchanged gunfire with officers.
ATTORNEY GENERAL PAM BONDI TO TRAVEL TO NEW ORLEANS TO SURVEY SUPER BOWL LIX SECURITY
Investigators work after an individual drove a automobile right into a crowd at Canal and Bourbon Road in New Orleans Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photograph/Gerald Herbert)
DeLaune has doubled his request for “tactical assets and belongings” from the Division of Homeland Safety for the reason that assault.
“We’ll have a considerably bigger presence right here in New Orleans in the way in which of tactical groups and in addition simply particular brokers working within the space. People who find themselves going to the sport or going to the particular occasions related to the Tremendous Bowl will see a a lot bigger presence of HSI particular brokers and of HSI tactical belongings, as effectively, strolling round downtown, the French Quarter,” he mentioned.
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The Homeland Safety Investigations SWAT staff performs drills at Octavio “Ox” Gonzales SWAT Advanced in LaPlace, La., Jan. 15, 2025. (Kat Ramirez for Fox Information Digital)
President Donald Trump is predicted to be in New Orleans for Tremendous Bowl LIX. DeLaune mentioned the president’s go to doesn’t basically change the company’s safety plans, however Secret Service shall be working with state and native counterparts. Trump’s anticipated attendance will truly improve safety within the metropolis due to the inclusion of extra federal legislation enforcement personnel, he defined.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem visited New Orleans Monday and instructed reporters there have been “no credible threats” focusing on Tremendous Bowl LIX.
HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE SAYS ‘NATIONAL SECURITY BLUNDERS’ OF PAST 4 YEARS HAVE EMBOLDENED TERRORISTS
Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem speaks throughout a information convention Feb. 3, 2025, about safety for Sunday’s Tremendous Bowl in New Orleans. (Gerald Herbert)
A Justice Division official additionally confirmed to Fox Information Thursday that U.S. Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi would journey to New Orleans on her first day in workplace to survey safety for the upcoming sport with Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.
A staff of HSI brokers primarily based in 9 states throughout the Southeast, which usually responds to high-risk legal exercise, trains for particular risk situations about 16 hours each month.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT VICTIMS OF NEW ORLEANS TERRORIST ATTACK
A staff of HSI officers primarily based in 9 states throughout the Southeast, which usually responds to high-risk legal exercise, trains for particular risk situations about 16 hours each month. (Kat Ramirez for Fox Information Digital)
In mid-January, the federal company’s Particular Response Workforce (SRT) skilled on the St. John’s Parish SWAT heart close to New Orleans a couple of month forward of Tremendous Bowl LIX and two weeks after the ISIS-inspired terrorist assault on Bourbon Road.
Whereas the SRT officers prepare each month, they added particular risk situations in January that they may encounter because the Tremendous Bowl and Mardi Gras draw tons of of 1000’s of vacationers to the Massive Simple.
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Whereas the SRT officers prepare each month, they added particular risk situations in January that they may encounter because the Tremendous Bowl and Mardi Gras draw 1000’s of vacationers to the Massive Simple. (Kat Ramirez for Fox Information Digital)
The SRT walked Fox Information Digital by its coaching operations, throughout which officers conduct mock operations for situations, akin to serving a search warrant, rescuing a hostage and responding to a suspicious automobile or suspicious individual in a crowd.
The staff is often deployed to answer high-risk targets, together with suspects who’ve an in depth legal historical past, are hiding in a fortified constructing, are experiencing psychological instability or are gang members.
Within the hostage rescue state of affairs that Fox Information Digital participated in by performing as a “sufferer,” officers responded to a hypothetical name for assist, entered the coaching heart, deployed a flashbang, shot a “suspect” dummy with simulation rounds and rescued the “sufferer.”
The SRT walked Fox Information Digital by its coaching operations throughout which officers conduct mock operations for situations, akin to serving a search warrant, rescuing a hostage and responding to a suspicious automobile or suspicious individual in a crowd. (Kat Ramirez for Fox Information Digital)
The middle is about as much as resemble a house or constructing officers would possibly enter throughout a response.
“For probably the most half, our particular brokers are simply that. … They’re legal investigators. We examine long-term, advanced legal investigations in organizations.”
“They’re legislation enforcement. They are not police, however they [are all] legislation enforcement,” DeLaune mentioned. “We’re skilled to cope with an energetic weapon risk. We’re skilled to cope with mass casualty occasions. And we’re skilled to cope with medical emergencies to an extent. So, these brokers are ready to go on the market and work with our state and native companions and help them.”
Exterior view of the Octavio “Ox” Gonzales SWAT Advanced the place the Homeland Safety Investigations SWAT staff carry out drills in LaPlace, La., Jan. 15, 2025. (Kat Ramirez for Fox Information Digital)
Throughout coaching operations, HSI officers put on full tactical gear, together with helmets, a number of first-aid kits, bullet-proof vests, microphones and coaching magazines, that are the identical weapons officers use usually. However they’re transformed to fireplace simulation rounds throughout coaching, the staff defined to Fox Information Digital.
The SRT additionally confirmed Fox Information Digital how officers use drones and cameras prolonged on lengthy poles to go looking inside risk areas earlier than getting into.
BOURBON STREET ATTACK, TRUMP TOWER CYBERTRUCK EXPLOSION PROBE LAUNCHED BY SENATE COMMITTEE
A Homeland Safety Investigations SWAT Workforce automobile is being utilized in drills in LaPlace, La., Jan. 15, 2025. (Kat Ramirez for Fox Information Digital)
Within the search warrant state of affairs, the SRT demonstrated how officers would arrive in a BearCat automobile and make their presence recognized at a location earlier than taking pictures pepper balls at an entrance, as a substitute of bodily knocking on an entrance, to guard officers and civilians. Officers would then enter and search every room on the location for threats or victims.
The SRT officers described themselves as a household due to how a lot time they spend working collectively, sometimes away from their houses and actual households. The staff spends a median of three weeks out of each month collectively.
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The SRT officers described themselves as a household due to how a lot time they spend working collectively. (Kat Ramirez for Fox Information Digital)
The Jan. 1 assault was “a reasonably painful expertise for” HSI New Orleans brokers, DeLaune mentioned.
“That weighs closely on the minds of our folks right here, however they’re dedicated … to offering a protected and safe ambiance for the Tremendous Bowl. And so they’re dedicated to offering a protected and safe ambiance for Mardi Gras, which is exclusive to us,” DeLaune defined, including that HSI New Orleans is comprised of loads of locals and Louisiana natives.
BODY LANGUAGE EXPERT SAYS NEW ORLEANS ATTACKER EXHIBITED ‘RED FLAGS’ BEFORE ATTACK
Matthias Hauswirth of New Orleans prays on the road close to the situation the place a terrorist drove right into a crowd at New Orleans’ Canal and Bourbon streets Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photograph/George Walker IV)
“They’ve an emotional private funding right here within the metropolis and in traditions akin to Mardi Gras and in supporting huge occasions such because the Tremendous Bowl. So, there’s loads of delight right here for these brokers, and so they’re getting the work finished daily,” he mentioned.
DeLaune additionally had a message for the general public forward of the Tremendous Bowl.
“Do not maintain on to it, and do not be embarrassed to report one thing,” he mentioned. “Do not dismiss your instincts. If there’s one thing that is not proper, tell us. Allow us to resolve whether or not or not it is one thing to be involved about.”
Authorities patrol Bourbon Road after it reopened in New Orleans Jan. 2, 2025, after the lethal New 12 months’s assault. (Kat Ramirez for Fox Information Digital)
The FBI continues to analyze the terrorist assault that left 15 folks useless on Jan. 1, together with the perpetrator.
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Federal authorities mentioned Jabbar had beforehand visited New Orleans twice, as soon as on Oct. 30, 2024, and as soon as on Nov. 10, 2024. He additionally visited Cairo and Toronto previous to the assault, the FBI mentioned.
Whereas Jabbar apparently acted alone, authorities are investigating whether or not he had any accomplices.
Tremendous Bowl LIX: Inside elite SWAT staff’s remaining dash to safe New Orleans
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