A local mother said the exciting city where she and her daughter spent New Year’s Eve has become a somber space just hours after what’s being investigated as an act of terrorism .
Liberty Township’s Diana Pearson and her daughter Ayana made the 12-hour trip from Butler County to New Orleans this week for a special mother-daughter New Year’s Eve celebration.
The two visited friends in the area and even bought tickets to the Allstate Sugar Bowl, scheduled for New Year’s Day at Caesar’s Superdome in downtown New Orleans.
“We actually went to the New Year’s Eve party on Jackson Square, which is in the French Quarter,” said Pearson. “We were enjoying the event, enjoying the people.”
Diana PearsonThe mother and daughter left the party around 2 a.m., walked to their hotel room a few blocks away and slept. As the pair rested for the evening, chaos erupted not too far from their room.
Authorities report that a man, later identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar , drove a car into a crowd at around 3 a.m. Wednesday, killing 15 people and injuring dozens more. The FBI identified the man as a former Army veteran and Texas resident.