Two Israeli military members on leave were critically wounded in the New Year’s Day truck attack on New Orleans’ famed Bourbon Street and remain hospitalized, according to a diplomatic official from Israel.
Adi Levin and a fellow reservist in the Israel Defense Forces came to New Orleans as part of a six-week trip to the US meant to finish in Florida, said Elad Shoshan, the Israeli consul in Houston.
Levin suffered severe head trauma and both legs were shattered after a US army veteran drove a pickup truck displaying the Islamic State (IS) terror group’s flag into revelers along the first three blocks of Bourbon Street. Levin’s colleague – who asked to not be publicly identified – suffered limb injuries. Both underwent “life-saving procedures” at a local hospital, where they remained Friday, Shoshan said.
At one point, it was unclear whether Levin would survive the attack that killed 14 others and injured more than 30, Shoshan said.
By Friday, Levin was considered stable and no longer in “a life-threatening situation”, Shoshan said. The 23-year-old, who was more seriously wounded than his colleague, “is facing a very long process of recovery”, according to Shoshan.
Shoshan said Levin and his colleague had served in Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which has killed at least 46,537 Palestinians and wounded 109,571 since 7 October 2023, the Palestinian territory’s health ministry said on Saturday. Israel has said the 7 October Hamas attack killed roughly 1,200 Israelis and took 250 hostage.
Levin and his friend had also served in Lebanon, Shoshan said.
Levin’s father, Hagai Levin, told ynetnews.com that months of surgeries and rehabilitation lay ahead, although the New Orleans hospital treating his son “operates at an incredible standard”.
Also on Friday, New Orleans police identified the officers who shot at the Bourbon Street attacker – 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar – as Nigel Daggs, Christian Beyer and Jacobie Jordan.
Jordan and another officer, Joseph Rodrigue, who did not fire, each were wounded in their thighs before Jabbar was shot dead. Rodrigue also fractured his shoulder.
Video from officers’ body cameras show how Jabbar fired at police from inside his truck after crashing it and before he was fatally shot.
Anne Kirkpatrick, the New Orleans police superintendent, called the officers who confronted Jabbar “national heroes”.
“They killed the terrorist,” Kirkpatrick said.
Kirkpatrick declined to address questions about whether friendly fire had hit any officers or bystanders. Citing various pending investigations, she also said she would not comment on different types of barriers that are designed to prevent intentional ramming attacks like the one carried out by Jabbar – but that officials either had removed or failed to deploy.
At least six victims who were injured and the father of a man who was killed in the attack sued New Orleans’ city government Thursday, alleging that it had failed to protect New Year’s Day revelers.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
