President Biden will travel to New Orleans on Monday to offer condolences to the families of the 14 victims killed in the New Year’s Day attack. This visit, likely his last as president to console victims of a mass-casualty crime, underscores his commitment to offering personal support during times of profound grief. The 82-year-old president, having endured significant personal loss, including the deaths of his first wife and daughter, and later his son Beau, brings a unique understanding to these encounters.
He previewed his visit, stating, “I’ve been there. There’s nothing you can really say to somebody that’s just had such a tragic loss,” adding, “My message is going to be personal if I get to get them alone.” Biden’s approach often involves private meetings with grieving families, offering his personal contact information for future support and engaging in open, empathetic conversations about their loss. Following his visit to New Orleans, he will proceed to California. This trip is proceeding as planned, despite a snowstorm impacting Washington D.C.
The attack occurred on Bourbon Street when Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a Texas resident and American citizen, drove a truck through a barricade and into a crowd of revelers. He was subsequently killed in a shootout with police. In the hours preceding the attack, Jabbar posted five videos on Facebook declaring his allegiance to the Islamic State and foreshadowing the violence. President Biden directly addressed circulating conspiracy theories surrounding the incident, stating, “I spent literally 17, 18 hours with the intelligence community…to establish beyond any reasonable doubt that New Orleans was the act of a single man who acted alone. All this talk about conspiracies with other people, there’s not evidence of that – zero.”
The victims ranged in age from 18 to 63, with most being in their 20s, and hailed from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, New Jersey, and Great Britain.