Washington Post, The attack on a crowd of celebrants ringing in the New Year on New Year's Day in New Orleans using a pickup truck is the fourth time a deadly attack used such a vehicle and Police described that a man with hell bent towards carnage at New Orleans with the killing 15 people celebrated early on new year Wednesday; an attack was reported that came without a stated motive for being, however that it has investigated as terrorism case by FBI.
There have been many such attacks during the past two decades, with some reportedly motivated by extremist politics and others attributed to mental illness or misogyny.
What authorities describe as "vehicle as a weapon attacks" have remade cities across the globe, with planners setting up concrete bollards around public spaces and constructing anti-vehicle barriers in new construction projects.
Here's a list of some of the most significant vehicle attacks:
Washington post,, Jan. 1, 2025 — At least 15 people are killed and dozens injured when a U.S. citizen from Texas rams a vehicle into a crowd of pedestrians in New Orleans' French Quarter district at 3:15 a.m. on New Year's Day. The FBI identifies the suspect as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar. He is killed in a firefight with police. According to the FBI, several suspected explosive devices were found and even a flag affiliated with the Islamic State group was reported to be inside the truck.
MAGDEBURG, Germany, Dec. 20. 2024 At least five are killed and more than 200 injured as a car careens into a Christmas market in eastern Germany. Police detained a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who had renounced Islam and publicly expressed support for the far-right AfD party.
ZHUHAI, China, Nov. 11, 2024 — A 62-year-old driver plowed his car into people exercising at a sports complex in southern China, killing 35, in the country's deadliest attack in years. The suspect is described as upset about his divorce. He pleaded guilty to endangering public safety by dangerous means and was sentenced to death.
Washington Post, Ontario June 6, 2021 - In a terrorist attack, driven by hatred, the attacker rams his pickup truck into four members of a Muslim family, and today a judge decreed a final life sentence for Nathaniel Veltman, described as a White nationalist.
TORONTO, April 23, 2018 —A 25-year-old Canadian man, Alek Minassian, drives a rental van into mostly female pedestrians on Yonge St. in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 16. Minassian tells police he belongs to an online "incel" community of sexually frustrated men. He is sentenced to life in prison.
NEW YORK, Oct. 31, 2017- Sayfullo Saipov, a US-based Uzbek-born Islamic extremist drove a pickup truck onto a crowded New York City bike path Tuesday, killing eight people, as police searched for a second suspect; he is now convicted of federal terrorism charges, receiving a minimum of 10 life sentences, plus 260 years in prison.
AUGUST 17, 2017 BARCELONA — A man used a van to mow down pedestrians on one of Barcelona's busiest streets, killing 14 people and injuring many more. Spain's interior minister says the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Several members of the same cell attack civilians in the resort town of Cambrils, killing one person.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia, Aug. 12, 2017 - On the day of the "Unite the Right" rally, white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one woman and injuring dozens. He is serving a life sentence for murder and hate crimes.
LONDON, June 19, 2017: A man, radicalized by far-right ideology, rams a van into people who had gone out to worship near a north London mosque, killing one man and injuring 15. He was given a life sentence.
LONDON, June 3, 2017 — Three attackers drive a van into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing people in nearby Borough Market. Eight people are killed and the attackers are shot dead by police.
LONDON, March 22, 2017 — British man Khalid Masood rams an SUV into people on Westminster Bridge, killing four, then fatally stabs a policeman guarding the Houses of Parliament. Masood is shot dead.
MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan. 20, 2017 - Six people are killed and more than 30 injured when a car hits lunchtime crowds at a pedestrian mall in Australia's second-largest city. James Gargasoulas is convicted of six counts of murder after being found to have been in a state of drug-induced psychosis.
BERLIN, Dec. 19, 2016 - Anis Amri, a rejected asylum-seeker from Tunisia, plows a hijacked truck into a Christmas market in the German capital, killing 13 people and injuring dozens. The attacker is killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
NICE, France, July 14, 2016 - Tunisian-born French resident Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel drives a rented truck for more than a mile (almost 2 kilometers) along a packed seaside promenade in the French Riviera resort on the Bastille Day holiday, killing 86 people in the deadliest attack of its kind. He is killed by police, but eight other people are sentenced to prison for helping orchestrate the attack.
APELDOORN, Netherlands, April 28, 2009 – A former security guard drove a car into parade spectators in an attempt to hit an open-topped bus carrying members of the Dutch royal family. Six people were killed and Tates died of his injuries the next day, leaving his full motive a mystery.
CHAPEL HILL, Washington Post, North Carolina, March 3, 2006 — University of North Carolina graduate Mohammed Taheri-Azar drives an SUV into a crowd at the university, lightly injuring nine people, in a self-professed bid to avenge Muslim deaths overseas. He is sentenced to up to 33 years in prison.
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