Landrieu: ‘Wasn’t Just an Attack on New Orleans, It Was an Attack on America Herself’

Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said Wednesday on CNN’s “The Lead” that the terror attack on Bourbon Street that killed 15 and injured at least 30 on New Year’s Day was not “just an attack on New Orleans, it was an attack on America herself.”

Landrieu said, “It is a day where our hearts are heavy and of course, everybody’s thoughts and prayers go out to the incredible victims. Thanks to the law enforcement officers who ran to the fire and took this guy out because it could have been exponentially worse .”

He continued, “Thing is, is based on the information that we know, there‘s a lot of speculation, but we know that this was, in fact, an American citizen who we believe was from Texas and an, unbelievably, had had some kind of military record. And so and was evidently here for a couple of weeks. So not not unlike the the assassination attempt in New York sometime. Evidently, this guy had been here for a couple of weeks looking at how to get this done, and he was intent on killing a lot of people, which, of course, he succeeded in doing last night before the law enforcement officers, you know, shot, shot him. So everybody just needs to be vigilant. The Superdome is going to be safe tomorrow night. We do these things all of the time. You understand now because of your reporting that there a nationwide threat.”

Landrieu added, “So this was a terrorist attack in an American city. It wasn’t just an attack on New Orleans. it was an attack on America herself. And all of us have to be in this fight to make sure that we don’t bow down to terrorists. We don’t let them stop us from enjoying ourselves, but we have to secure the city, and we have to continue to do this over a long period of time, because we have these other major events coming, not the least of which is the Superbowl, which we’ve handled many, many, many times.”

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