New Orleans officials were warned in 2019 that Bourbon Street was vulnerable to car-ramming attack
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
(NEW ORLEANS, La) — New Orleans city leaders were warned in a 2019 confidential physical security assessment that tourist-packed Bourbon Street was vulnerable to a vehicle-ramming attack because some of the existing blockade mechanisms were inoperable.
New Orleans first installed metal security barriers on Bourbon Street in 2017 following the 2016 truck terror attack on Bastille Day in Nice, France. That same year, a report prepared by the infrastructure consulting firm AECOM noted that Bourbon Street “is often densely packed with pedestrians,” presenting “a risk and target for terrorism.”
Two years later, a security assessment prepared for the French Quarter Management District by the security firm Interfor International faulted the bollards that had been installed.
“Some of the bollards were inoperable for a number of reasons,” Don Aviv, president of Interfor International, said. “Some were broken and some were kept down for ease of use.”
The existence of the 2019 assessment was first reported by The New York Times.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the city had been in the process of renovating the malfunctioning bollards before hosting the Super Bowl in February.
“Bollards were not up because they are near completion, with the expectation of being completed by Super Bowl,” Cantrell said. “Because the City of New Orleans is hosting Super Bowl this year, it gave the City of New Orleans an opportunity to go further and deeper with infrastructure improvements.”
New Orleans police parked a cruiser to block Bourbon Street on New Year’s Eve.
“We did indeed have a plan, but the terrorist defeated it,” New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said.
Video of the attack shows the suspect’s truck moving along Canal Street and making a right turn, moving around the police cruiser by driving onto the sidewalk. Aviv suggested it should not be so simple.
“For the type of environment the French Quarter is, there should be a systemic process to control traffic and to protect pedestrians,” Aviv said.
The French Quarter Management District told ABC News in a statement that it’s always focused on public safety.
“In 2019, the Board commissioned a study on Safety and Security in the French Quarter. This study was shared with our partners in the City of New Orleans, and its recommendations were made public,” the statement said. “The strength of our ongoing partnership with the City and NOPD allows open communications of resident and business concerns and the results of any studies or reports completed.”
ABC News’ Jared Kofsky contributed to this report.
(TULSA, Okla.) — The Justice Department provided new insight and chilling details about the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, describing the two-day raid that killed 300 Black residents and destroyed their businesses as a “coordinated, military-style attack” conducted by a white mob of over 10,000 people.
The DOJ released a 126-page report Friday following a four-month investigation into the attacks, which took place between May 31 and June 1 in 1921. In addition to the murders and property destruction, victims’ money and personal property were stolen, and they were not provided with any aid.
The report concluded that the 1921 one-week investigation done by an agent of the Justice Department’s Bureau of Investigation, the precursor to the FBI, was unfounded as it did not include key details about the violence, the victims and the perpetrators and implied Black men were responsible for the massacre.
“Contrary to the agent’s 1921 report, the situation did not ‘spontaneously’ grow out of control,” the new report said. “Rather, what had initially been sporadic and opportunistic violence became systematic, yielding a much more devastating result, due to coordinated efforts among white residents and law enforcement entities. Moreover, although the 1921 report asserts that the massacre (then called a riot) was not the result of ‘racial feeling,’ perpetrators of the massacre overtly expressed and acted upon racial bias.”
Investigation provides detailed timeline of violence
At the time of the massacre, Tulsa was dubbed “Black Wall Street” due to the thriving businesses and community established by Black residents. However, white residents who lived in the city and nearby towns harbored a deep resentment, which built up in the years leading to the attack, the report said.
Investigators from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division “spoke with survivors and with descendants of survivors, examined firsthand accounts of the massacre given by individuals who are now deceased, studied primary source materials, spoke to scholars of the massacre and reviewed legal pleadings, books, and scholarly articles relating to the massacre,” according to the DOJ.
The investigation determined the attack was triggered by an unfounded condemnation alleging 19-year-old Dick Rowland assaulted a white woman who operated an elevator he used. The department said this tactic was commonly used to justify violence against Black residents.
After a local newspaper sensationalized the story, a mob of white Tulsans gathered outside the courthouse, demanding a lynching, according to the report.
When a local sheriff called a group of Black World War I veterans to come to the courthouse to prevent the lynching, the white mob grew, and a shot rang out, the investigation found.
The Tulsa police exacerbated the conflict by deputizing hundreds of white residents, many of whom were “advocating for a lynching and had been drinking,” the report said.
“Law enforcement officers helped organize these special deputies — as well as other white Tulsans — into the martial forces that ravaged Greenwood. Over the next several hours, they looted, burned, and destroyed 35 city blocks while Greenwood’s residents tried desperately to defend their homes,” the report said.
“Some Black residents were shot (or otherwise assaulted), and many were arrested or detained,” it continued. “Law enforcement actively participated in the destruction, disarming Black residents, confiscating their weapons, and detaining many in makeshift camps under armed guard.”
By the morning of June 1, the violence and arsons had become “systematic.”
Left with nothing
Although city officials offered to rebuild and help the victims, they not only failed to do so but put up barriers, the report said.
“White local leaders rejected outside aid, claiming they could handle the recovery, but then provided little to no financial support. Instead, claiming the area was best suited for industrial use, they imposed harsh new fire codes that priced residents out of the area, although a court later enjoined those provisions,” the report said.
“Compounding the injustice, insurance companies denied Black residents of Greenwood compensation due to the ‘riot clause’ in their policies,” it added. “Legal attempts to hold the city accountable also failed. Black residents of Tulsa were left with no avenue for redress.”
No legal avenues left for justice
Due to the statute of limitations and the fact that the perpetrators and almost all of the survivors and witnesses of the attack are long dead, the Justice Department cannot take any legal action for the crimes committed, the report concluded.
“The report recognizes that some may find the department’s inability to prosecute a painful or dissatisfying outcome,” the DOJ said in a statement. “However, the review recognizes and documents the horrible events that occurred as well as the trauma and loss suffered by the residents of Greenwood.”
Family members of survivors said they were not given notice of report
The DOJ said it would be meeting with Greenwood District officials, survivors and descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Tulsa civil rights community and other stakeholders to discuss the probe.
DOJ members held a meeting at the Historic Vernon AME Church in Tulsa on Saturday to discuss the report.
Damario Solomon-Simmons, an attorney for the family of two of the survivors, Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Fletcher, however, expressed disappointment with the DOJ, claiming they were not given notice about the report.
Solomon-Simmons said in a statement that he was only made aware of the report after his office saw news reports. Furthermore, he said his team was not told of Saturday’s meeting at the church.
“Neither my legal team nor the massacre survivors will be able to attend due to time constraints amid our ongoing review and discussion with the DOJ,” he said in a statement.
Solomon-Simmons said he and his team will have further comment after they review the report and speak with the DOJ.
The DOJ did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment about Solomon-Simmons’ claims.
(PASSAIC, N.J.) — Amid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdowns across the United States, immigrant-rich communities have felt the impact of the administration’s policies.
In Passaic, New Jersey, hundreds of immigrant families and community members marched in protest of recent ICE raids and arrests, calling for statewide protection of immigrant rights last weekend.
About 10 miles away in West New York, New Jersey, Elio Barrera, owner of the Salvadorian restaurant La Pupusa Loca, said he is dealing with the fallout from a viral video that falsely claimed an ICE raid happened at a restaurant with their name. Barerra said that it “never happened.”
Barrera said the video garnered roughly 1.4 million views. While the video was removed from the social media platform, he said, “the damage was already done,” causing nearly an 80% drop in customer traffic to his own restaurant, instilling fear in the local immigrant community.
Barrera shared the deep sentimental value the restaurant holds, having taken his first steps there and witnessing generations of families gathering to share meals. His grandparents, who migrated from El Salvador, started the business in 1989, passing down their love for cooking and traditional recipes.
He expressed heartbreak over the impact of misinformation, emphasizing how the video has instilled unnecessary fear in patrons who once felt at home. The restaurant, usually vibrant and full on weekends, has seen a drastic decline in visitors, leading to cutbacks in staff hours and operations.
Barrera told ABC News, “I hope that people are more aware of social media, of what they see on the internet. I want people to not believe everything they see because in this case, I feel like we were all victims of a video like this. It definitely had an impact on everybody. It brought a lot of fear. It was very threatening to see how this video depicted a situation that never existed.”
Despite the challenges, Barrera remains determined to rebuild trust and encourage customers to return, assuring them a raid never happened at their location. He urges people to be more discerning about what they believe online.
He remains steadfast in his commitment to carrying on his grandparents’ legacy, ensuring the restaurant continues to serve as a welcoming space for the community.
“The U.S. […] is made up of migrants, and we all are hard workers,” said Barrera about the immigrant community. “We make so much of this country, and we’re all human. We all have rights.”
ABC News’ Abigail Bowen contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Rudy Giuliani’s New York Yankees World Series rings must be stored in a closet in his son’s apartment until a judge decides whether the former New York mayor must relinquish them as part of a defamation judgment he owes to two Georgia election workers, the judge ordered Tuesday.
“The point was to ensure the security of the rings,” Judge Lewis Liman said during the final hearing before trial begins Thursday.
The trial will determine whether Giuliani, 80, must turn over three World Series rings and his Florida condominium to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who won a $148 million defamation award against him.
The former mayor’s son, Andrew, has possession of the rings and agreed to keep them “secreted in a bedroom closet” pending the outcome. Giuliani has asserted the Florida condo is his permanent residence and exempt from the judgment.
Giuliani, once Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, has already given up a New York City apartment, a 1980 Mercedes once owned by actress Lauren Bacall and several luxury watches. He has been disbarred and held in contempt in New York and in Washington.
Freeman and Moss sued Giuliani in 2021 after he repeatedly made false claims they corrupted the 2020 Georgia vote.
On Tuesday, Giuliani’s attorney sought unsuccessfully to call as witnesses Giuliani’s spokesman, Ted Goodman, and Monsignor Alan Placa, a retired priest. Both men have “intimate knowledge of his intent and the homestead,” Giuliani’s attorney said.
Placa “answers to a higher power than this court,” defense attorney Joseph Cammarata added.
“What do you mean?” Judge Liman interjected.
“He answers to God, your honor,” Cammarata responded.
Liman denied the defense request to reconsider allowing the priest to testify.
Giuliani himself is the primary witness at trial and is expected to testify first.
