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Erin Burnett Outfront
New Orleans, Vegas Suspects Served At Fort Bragg, In Afghanistan; Video: New Orleans Suspect Captured On Doorbell Cam Before Attack; Victim's Parents Speak Out. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired January 02, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:43]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Shocking new details in two deadly attacks. The New Orleans terrorist armed with remote detonators for his bombs, and the man who blew up a Tesla Cybertruck in Las Vegas, a decorated active duty Special Forces soldier.
And exclusive new video taken just hours before the attack in New Orleans. A doorbell camera capturing the attacker unloading his pickup truck at an Airbnb next door. The resident who has that video is our guest.
And a 25-year-old among the victims. His family having dinner together hours before the attack on New Year's Eve. His parents begging him not to go to the French Quarter. They will be our guest tonight.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news this hour, new details on the two deadly attacks that have Americans on edge tonight. Two large vehicles used as weapons in both New Orleans and Las Vegas. Both suspects had served at Fort Bragg. Both had been stationed in Afghanistan in 2009. Both had been decorated for their military service.
But officials say there is no indication at least yet that they knew each other. In New Orleans, the FBI just releasing this new poster calling for information for the public -- from the public about the New Year's Eve attack, in which 14 people were killed. This poster that you're looking at contains two new images of the suspect. Shamsud-Din Jabbar from an hour before the attack.
Now, what's interesting here, as we look at this picture, long, light brown coat, almost like a work type coat, dark buttoned down shirt, blue jeans. And what the FBI says. And this stands out to when you look at his feet, what appears to be brown dress shoes. The poster also has this image of one of the coolers containing an IED, which they say Jabbar placed near the attack. And officials now say he was, quote, 100 percent inspired by ISIS. New
surveillance video from the night of the attack shows him speeding down Bourbon Street. That point narrowly missing pedestrians. Of course he did hit many of them. And 14 people are dead.
At the beginning of the video, though, you see the truck going over a barrier that actually was down, and that video was taken just moments before police killed Jabbar, in that exchange of fire. We now have obtained exclusive video of the suspect just hours before the attack as well.
This is the Ring camera video I mentioned a moment ago. It's from a neighboring home and it shows Jabbar unloading his rented truck outside the Airbnb where he was staying. And I'm going to speak with the man who shared that video with us in just a moment.
And we are also learning new information at this hour, though, about the suspect behind the explosion of a Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. Matthew Livelsberger was an active Special Forces soldier, the winner of five Bronze Star medals, including one for valor in combat. Officials now say he shot himself in the head before the explosion. They say his body was burned beyond recognition.
We have both of these stories covered in depth tonight. Anderson Cooper is in New Orleans. Natasha Chen is on the ground in Las Vegas.
Let's start with Anderson.
And, Anderson, as you are there, what is the latest that you're learning from officials on the ground?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the -- I'm here on Bourbon Street, as you can tell, Bourbon Street has reopened. Businesses have reopened. There are people here not hugely crowded, but there's a lot of people here. The bars are open.
That was an important for the city to get it back up and running. Just as a symbol that this city is not on its knees and it is resilient. As you know, there was the college football championship game here as well today. So there have been a lot of people in the city.
I talked to the superintendent of police, Anne Kirkpatrick, a couple of hours ago, right before Bourbon Street opened. Here's some of what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: What is the latest you can tell us?
ANNE KIRKPATRICK, NEW ORLEANS POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: All right. So the FBI did a briefing about an hour and a half ago, and they were able to give updates associated with the investigation. The investigation is at the stage where they have confidence that this is a lone wolf. This is a lone actor they have chased down as many of the leads and information that they were given to the ground, and therefore, they were confident that this is what we have.
It is still early in the investigation and things can change, but because of that information, we felt that we could go ahead and open up Bourbon Street.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:05:04]
COOPER: And, Erin, you showed that that -- that door camera footage of the suspect of the attacker police, the FBI have five cell phone devices, two laptops that they have retrieved that were in his possession. They have been searching for any sign that he was working with anybody else. And that's why they confidently came forward today, said do not believe he was in touch with anybody else on the ground.
You saw -- you put out that new poster that they have just put out of him elsewhere in the French quarter, he was actually, you know, earlier they thought other people maybe had set down some of those explosive devices in those coolers. The photo of which you showed they now know it was him who actually set down those coolers, but they are trying to appeal for any information that anyone may have, not just here in New Orleans, but anybody who may have had contact with this guy over the last year to get an understanding of his radicalization and what actually led him to this point, to be here three hours after the stroke of midnight.
BURNETT: All right.
Well, Anderson, thank you very much.
Of course, Anderson is there tonight. And I know it's a city, Anderson, where you have spent so much time reporting, and I know it means a lot that you're there. So thanks very much to Anderson.
And let's go also to the new details on the Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas, where Natasha Chen is OUTFRONT with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Authorities say they believe the driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded just outside the entrance doors of the Trump hotel in Las Vegas was 37 year old Matthew Livelsberger.
His body was burned beyond recognition, and police are waiting for additional forensic analysis for final confirmation.
SHERIFF KEVIN MCMAHILL, LAS VEGAS: In how we're trying to identify him, and I'm feeling comfortable to give you this information is a tremendous amount of substantial evidence.
CHEN: The motive for the bombing remains unknown, but police say Livelsberger died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head just before the explosion. They found two guns, a military ID, a smart phone and a smart watch inside the Cybertruck. They've also identified two tattoos they say Livelsberger had.
MCMAHILL: One of which was on the stomach and one of which is on the arm, that we can see bits and pieces of it, as in comparison to what it is that we now know he had on his body.
CHEN: Livelsberger was an active duty member in the Army Special Forces operations, serving in Germany with previous tours in Afghanistan. He was awarded five Bronze Stars and held the rank of master sergeant, a senior enlistment, according to four U.S. officials.
He was on approved leave when police say he rented the Tesla Cybertruck in Colorado, arriving in Las Vegas on New Year's Day. He drove up and down Las Vegas Boulevard before passing the Trump Hotel. Livelsberger then circled back and parked the Cybertruck in the entrance driveway just moments before the fiery blast, according to law enforcement officials.
Video of the aftermath shows the bed of the Cybertruck loaded with fireworks, gas tanks and camping fuel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The level of sophistication is not what we would expect from -- from an individual with this type of military experience.
CHEN: Police credit the Tesla vehicles body construction, forcing the blast upward and limiting the damage to the hotel driveway, even leaving the glass doors intact.
Law enforcement officials say they have not connected the explosion at the Trump Hotel to the deadly terror attack in New Orleans in the early morning hours on New Year's day, but acknowledged the similarities, like Livelsberger, the suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar used a vehicle to carry out the attack, killing 14 people. Both have a military background.
Jabbar was an army veteran and served in Afghanistan. They even rented their trucks through the same company, Turo.
MCMAHILL: If these turn out to be simply similarities, very strange similarities to have. And so we're not prepared to rule in or rule out anything at this point.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHEN (on camera): Erin, this was a frightening moment for the seven people who were injured in the immediate vicinity when this happened, as well as the hotel guests who were staying inside. I talked to a couple of guests who were staying between the 40th and 50th floors behind us in the hotel. They said they felt the windows shake and they saw smoke billowing in the stairwell coming out of the elevator doors.
Now, one thing investigators are working on now is trying to retrieve any possible footage from inside the Cybertruck. Before the explosion, they said. Elon Musk is sending staff here to Las Vegas to help them with that -- Erin. BURNETT: All right. Natasha, thank you very much. At the very latest
there from outside that Trump hotel in Las Vegas.
OUTFRONT now is the Democratic Congressman Jim Himes from Connecticut. And he is the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
So, Congressman Himes, you've been briefed here and getting a lot of new information on both of these events. Just -- let's just start here for a moment if we could, with the New Orleans situation. What can you tell us? What are you able to share about what the suspect was doing?
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We've now got that new poster, right, and he's sort of dressed -- well-dressed right. Dress shoes, dress shirt, in the hours before the attack, what have you learned about what he was doing in those hours and days before he unleashed that rampage?
REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): Yeah, Erin, frustratingly, we have a lot less information on the Las Vegas attacker than we do on the New Orleans attacker, where three phones were recovered from the vehicle that the -- that Jabbar used. One is already being exploited. And I'm probably a few hours out of date right now, but I'm sure eventually both all three phones will be exploited.
And, of course, Jabbar put a number of messages up on Facebook immediately before he undertook this attack. So we know an awful lot more about him than we do about the individual in Las Vegas, where there even -- I think they're relatively certain, but they're -- they're confirming, as you heard from the sheriff, the guy's actual identity.
BURNETT: All right. So can I just ask you, because you bring up the two situations and, you know, the correlation is not causality. Just because they're similar don't mean they're related. But the list of things where they've overlapped is certainly notable, right?
You have -- they both rented the -- their vehicles from the same place. They're both in the military. They both served at Fort Bragg. They both were in Afghanistan in the exact same year.
We don't know of any direct links between the two of them at this point. At this point, what is your either sense from your briefings or sense from your experience as to whether these overlaps could -- could indicate that they knew each other?
HIMES: Yeah, yeah. So again, as of when I was briefed late this morning, there was no evidence whatsoever of any connection. And you're right, there are similarities. Military, their presence at Fort Bragg together. The FBI talked about that.
Fort Bragg is a very, very big installation. And there's no necessary reason why they would have had contact. But look, you know, you know, you don't know until, you know, and were still in the first 48 hours. What is there are a couple of interesting tangential things here. And you're showing the American people how very quickly in this era of
Ring cameras and cell phones and all sorts of ability to record video and to find connections, we'll know these answers fairly soon. But as of late this morning, there was no indication either of coordination or of and this is where the intelligence community is implicated of any sort of foreign nexus.
You know, it's very clear that the individual Jabbar in New Orleans was radicalized, but we're running down still -- how he was radicalized.
BURNETT: And just to be clear, when they say, and this is what the FBI has told us, Congressman, that he was 100 percent inspired by ISIS. That's obviously a specific word choice. They're not saying directed by ISIS or in contact with ISIS, but have you heard of anything at this point that would indicate that he was directed by or had been in contact with any known ISIS operatives?
HIMES: No, and again, no evidence of contact as of this point. And as you'll recall, over the years, people have become self radicalized inside the United States. This is not, sadly, the first example of this. And often it happens because they're on websites or they're looking at old, you know, propaganda from various terrorist groups. You know, al Qaeda used to have an actual monthly magazine.
And so, no, there's no indication of direction or tasking. But clearly, this individual -- there's no question that he pledged allegiance to ISIS, that we know.
BURNETT: Can I just ask you, though, also what sort of you're hearing in your briefings or what sort of alarm bells there may be going off? I mean, the Las Vegas individual about whom you say we have now we have an identity, but we don't know as much about him.
I mean, is it, you know, active duty, special forces, multiple decorated military member? I mean, it is really quite shocking.
HIMES: Yeah, yeah. No. And sadly, there are examples. There have been you'll -- you'll recall a number of years ago, there are examples of military members, you know, breaking the law, doing horrible things. You know, very sadly, as we approach January 6th, there were active duty military attacking the Capitol of the United States.
And the reason I would tell you that scary is maybe twofold. Number one, you kind of hope that those who have sworn to uphold the Constitution also uphold the values underneath the Constitution. And in those cases, that is not true.
And, of course, you worry about it because people who are trained by the military have lethal skills that they can apply in a way that somebody who doesn't have that training can't do. So yes, it's very concerning. But, you know, I would add and it's -- and it's important.
You know, it's my job as a -- as a -- as the ranking member of the intelligence committee to do oversight, to ask the questions, where did the government get this wrong? And we will do that. But it's important to remember that a lone wolf attack, what they call a lone wolf attack, where there isn't coordination, where there isn't communication and emails or signals or phone calls or packages going back and forth -- very, very difficult to find.
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BURNETT: Yes, yes. And I remember Leon Panetta talking about that being their biggest fear is the hardest to track.
All right. Well, we'll see as we learn more.
And, Congressman, thank you so very much. I appreciate your time.
And next, we have new details about the final days of the New Orleans terrorist. What he actually told a neighbor he was planning to do as he moved out of his home in Texas.
Plus, using vehicles as weapons. A special report on this alarming trend. The terrorists have been utilizing.
And Trump's incoming border czar says he believes there's a connection between the New Orleans and Las Vegas attackers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM HOMAN, INCOMING BORDER CZAR: This is a gut feeling. There's too many similarities, too much, too much coincidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Breaking news, the family of Shamsud-Din Jabbar are speaking out for the first time, telling CNN that the man that they knew is completely different from the man who drove a pickup truck into a crowd, purposely killing 14, trying to kill countless more.
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His brother's, just moments ago, telling CNN, quote: He was very well- tempered, slow to anger, kind, soft spoken. That's why it was so unbelievable that he would be capable of something like this. Something screwed him up. He's not this type of person, someone or something fogged his mind.
His brother says that he never had any conversation with him about ISIS.
Ed Lavandera is OUTFRONT tonight in Houston, and that is where Jabbar lived.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Investigators continue trying to unravel the mystery of how 42-year- old Shamsud-Din Jabbar became a radicalized ISIS sympathizer. The Texas born U.S. Army veteran served in Afghanistan and lived in
Houston.
Before he was killed in a shootout with police, the FBI says Jabbar had proclaimed his support for ISIS in a series of videos posted online.
CHRISTOPHER RAIA, FBI DEPUTY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, COUNTERTERRORISM DIVISION: There were five videos posted on Jabbar's Facebook account, which are time-stamped beginning at 1:29 a.m. and the last at 3:02 a.m.
In the first video, Jabbar explains he originally planned to harm his family and friends.
LAVANDERA: A childhood friend who had kept in touch with Jabbar on Facebook said he was called sham in high school and had since become very religious.
CHRIS POUSSON, JABBAR'S FRIEND: Pretty much every conversation we had or post that he was, he was making at that time, in some way, shape or form, it all, you know, resorted back to his -- his Muslim faith.
LAVANDERA: An army spokesperson says Jabbar served in the Army and Army Reserve for more than a decade, part of that time as an information technology specialist.
Sean Keenan was a student journalist in 2015 when Jabbar attended Georgia State University. He interviewed Jabbar about the struggles of returning to civilian life after the military.
SEAN KEENAN, JOURNALIST WHO INTERVIEWED JABBAR IN 2015: I remember a very calm, collected guy, you know, certainly no red flags. He did come across as a leader and a helper. And exactly what went wrong after that remains mysterious to me.
LAVANDERA: This is the home in north Houston where Shamsud-Din Jabbar lived. A neighbor tells us that he was here for just about a year and a half. The aftermath of how investigators knocked down the door and fenced to access Jabbar's house was visible from the neighbor's yard.
A neighbor tells us that he last saw Jabbar on New Year's Eve morning. He was OUTFRONT loading up a white truck. Jabbar told him that he had found a new job in Louisiana and he was moving there.
MUMTAZ BASHIR, JABBAR'S NEIGHBOR: The morning he was moving, I asked him if he needed hands for moving, help -- help him out, as a neighbor. Do you need any help for moving things around? He said, I'm okay.
LAVANDERA: Mumtaz Bashir lived next door to Jabbar and he said they only spoke briefly on Tuesday morning while Jabbar was loading what he described as light items into a white pickup truck. He asked Jabbar about his new job.
BASHIR: He said the same thing what he was doing related to the same thing. I think what he mentioned was he was in IT.
LAVANDERA: Bashir says he only saw the truck there one night and was stunned to learn Jabbar drove a white truck in the terror attack on New Year's Day.
BASHIR: We still don't believe that the person. We just no, no way. Can't be like that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (on camera): And, Erin, the FBI has released several new pictures tonight of Jabbar taken about an hour and 15 minutes before the attack. They're in the French quarter. Jabbar is walking around. They're urging the public to look at those photos. If they saw someone like him walking around the French quarter to reach out to them, they also released a picture of a cooler that contained an IED device.
Investigators want to hear from people who might have witnessed any of this. And really, you know, the staggering news tonight is the news from Jabbar's brother and father, who tell CNN that they never saw any indication that Jabbar had become radicalized in recent months or years, and that he had become an ISIS sympathizer -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Ed, thank you very much in Houston.
And lets go now to Jeff Gonzalez. He and his partner were the ones who captured this exclusive video of Shamsud-Din Jabbar on their Ring cam.
The New Orleans attacker was staying at an Airbnb, which is right next to your home, Jeff.
So I guess can we just start in this moment where you and I are talking? There's actually still, I understand, a bomb squad outside your home right now. The scene outside where you live -- you know, we're just showing some images here. You know, you -- incredibly upsetting for you, I know.
When did you realize? Obviously, this happens at 3:00 in the morning. When did you realize that that this was so close to you that the attacker was staying literally steps away from where you lived?
JEFF GONZALEZ, DOORBELL CAMERA CAPTURED NOLA ATTACKER JUST BEFORE ATTACK: We hadn't a knock on the door at about 8:30 asking us to evacuate. And as they were telling us that we needed to leave, they noticed the Ring cam over the door and asked for the footage -- to have access to the footage to that Ring cam.
[19:25:02]
BURNETT: All right. And I want to ask you, obviously -- go ahead.
GONZALEZ: And they at that -- at that point, they said they believed that it was connected to the events from the night before.
BURNETT: So, can you talk a little bit about what at this point, your Ring cam was, was on. And I understand really only activated because there was action, right. That it was sort of motion -- motion activated. So, all of a sudden, it starts recording.
And you did share with us what it recorded. Can you tell me about it?
GONZALEZ: So I believe the first one is around 10:00 p.m. and it shows the truck parked outside of the house between our house and the Airbnb, and he's unloading a box from the back of it.
And then further, at 11:00, there's another video of the truck still there, and it's not until 11:40 that there's lights on. The truck is idling, and that's the last time the Ring camera captured anything.
BURNETT: So let's take a look at a second part of the video you shared. This is around 11:00 at night, right? This is the white truck that that you're -- you're talking about.
At that point, it's idling outside of your house, so it's ignition is on. It's lights are on.
Just to be clear, this is about four hours before the attack. We don't see the suspect in this particular part of the video, but do you have any sense or clues as to where -- where he was at this time? I mean, again, the truck is there, he's staying there and it's turned on.
GONZALEZ: Right. We had gone to a friend's house to celebrate New Year's. So we weren't actually at the house at that point and didn't see any of the footage until this morning.
BURNETT: So you mentioned, you know --
GONZALEZ: Yesterday morning, sorry.
BURNETT: Right. No, I understand, and I can only imagine. It's -- it's traumatic and that, you know, you all of a sudden, your house is surrounded by a bomb squad. And I know your -- your partner has the video and hours go by where he's with officials, and you're not able to get back in. I know you were out walking the dog at that point.
You also woke up to a smell of fire. You mentioned at the beginning I wanted to ask you about that because the Airbnb where he'd been staying and we understand had been there were explosives there that he had put there.
You noticed the smell. What could you tell us about that?
GONZALEZ: So, we -- we actually noticed the smell at around 12:30 when we got home and attributed it to fireworks. It wasn't a particularly strong smell, but there was definitely something in the air.
And then I got up -- I left the house shortly before 5:00 to bring my sister to the airport, and thought it was strange that the smell was still there and stronger, but I was in a hurry to get my sister to the airport on time. I didn't -- I didn't stop to ask any questions or look around.
So thankfully, a neighbor also smelled it and called 911 and the firemen arrived to put out the fire.
BURNETT: And, of course, thank God, because think about as I know you have, what could have happened there. And thank goodness you're okay. And I know you've shared everything with the -- with officials.
And thank you so very much. I appreciate it, Jeff.
GONZALEZ: Absolutely.
BURNETT: All right. And next they had New Year's dinner with their son. They were together as a family, and they asked him to text when he got home after going out. Hours later, he was tragically killed on Bourbon Street. But his parents want to tell you what happened. And they join us next.
And Trump is still pushing a false report from Fox News linking the New Orleans attacker to the southern border.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:33:02]
BURNETT: New tonight. They begged him not to go. The parents of 25- year-old Matthew Tenedorio, who was killed in the New Orleans attack, say they had dinner with their son just hours before he went to the French Quarter on New Year's Eve, and they had urged him not to go. But he did. And before he left, his mother hugged him and told him to text her when he got home.
Matthew's parents, Cathy and Lou, are OUTFRONT.
And, Cathy and Lou, and you know, none of us can imagine the incredible and shocking loss that you are now facing.
Cathy, so you go to dinner as a family New Year's Eve, and obviously, Matthew was then going to go meet up with friends and go to the French Quarter. And I know at the time you had begged him not to go.
What did you say to him in those final minutes of your family New Year's Eve?
CATHY TENEDORIO, MOTHER OF NEW ORLEANS VICTIM MATTHEW TENEDORIO: We just were able to tell each other we love each other, you know, I love you. Happy New Year, call -- you know, text me when you get home. Please don't forget we're going to be worried about you. And you know, why don't you just stay local here and on the north shore of the area, you know, instead of going to New Orleans.
LOU TENEDORIO, FATHER OF NEW ORLEANS VICTIM MATTHEW TENEDORIO: And I said, son, please don't go. It's dangerous over there. It's not the way it used to be. There's a lot of crime. Please stay here.
And he's like, don't worry about it, dad, I love you. And we hugged and he left.
C. TENEDORIO: Yeah. BURNETT: And, Cathy, I know you -- you mentioned that you had said to
him, just text when you get home. And then obviously he didn't. And I can only assume at some point the two of you would have fallen asleep. Maybe, did you? You're waiting for this text and did you sort of wake up and look for it? I mean, you know --
C. TENEDORIO: I did. One -- just one time I woke up. I don't even remember what time, but I just checked and I didn't see anything, but then, as you know, 7:00, 8:00.
[19:35:03]
I started getting concerned. And then I asked my I texted my other son who he lives, you know, they live in the same house. If he was home, long story longer, he lives in our home, but we're staying with my parents right now in Slidell, and we live our home is in Picayune, Mississippi. So they're all at the house.
And he said, mom, his car is not here. Well, that's when kind of panic starts. And we tried to contact his friends, couldn't get them on the phone at first. But then I started calling around to the hospitals and then I finally spoke with his friend and said, Ms. Cathy, I'm so sorry to tell you this. Something terrible happened last night. We were a witness to everything that we were walking down Bourbon Street, and he just told us --
L. TENEDORIO: It happened right in front of us, he said.
C. TENEDORIO: Yes, it just unfolded in front. We all -- we got separated. We went into one bar, you know, one -- one of the friends, the other friend two blocks down into another bar and we can't find Matthew. We -- you know, we look, we went to we went once we got the bars were all on lockdown in that area. Once they were allowed to leave, he went to see if Matthews car was still parked in the -- on the lot that's on Rampart and Bienville.
Anyway, his car was still there, so that's when they knew something. He must be in the -- he's injured. That's --
L. TENEDORIO: They kept calling him. No response. We kept calling. No response.
C. TENEDORIO: Yeah.
BURNETT: And, Lou, when they -- I know that his -- his cousin said that as, as Matthew and his friends were walking towards one of the bars and then they saw a body fly up into the air which appears, it sounds like, as you say, from where they were to have been from the truck, but they hear all this screaming and, Lou, then what? What we hear is that your son ran towards it, that he ran towards it to try to help.
C. TENEDORIO: If he could help, if he could, you know, that's what that was him. He would help.
L. TENEDORIO: I mean, I wasn't there, so I cant really tell you exactly what happened, but that's the gist of it, from what we're hearing from his friends.
C. TENEDORIO: Yes. They ran towards to see if they could help.
BURNETT: And, and do you know what this --
C. TENEDORIO: Utter chaos when the gunshots started and those gunshots I know, Christina, your niece, she had said that, that the coroner said that he did die from a gunshot that he had run towards to try to help people and that, that that was what actually happened to him.
Have they given you any clarity about what exactly happened?
C. TENEDORIO: No, not yet. No, no, no, no, they haven't. Sorry. They haven't.
L. TENEDORIO: It's still under investigation I think.
C. TENEDORIO: It's an FBI investigation, and they -- you know, it's a lot of people are involved and it just takes time. Autopsies takes time. Everybody has to go through an autopsy.
So we just have to wait.
BURNETT: Which is not something you can even comprehend to use those words to talk about your child. I'm so sorry.
C. TENEDORIO: You wanted to see him, you know, we wanted to see what happened to him. But --
BURNETT: Yeah, you haven't even seen him.
C. TENEDORIO: No, no, just. I was able to show a picture, and they had, of course, his drivers license and his wallet, and they said, yes, that your son is dead. He's deceased. So --
BURNETT: You. The pictures that we've just shown people, many of them have Matthew with short hair. But I know that that he had grown his hair and you had shared some pictures of him with long hair. And in fact, it was just before this happened.
That's his hair. We're showing the picture that you shared with us, Cathy.
C. TENEDORIO: Yeah.
BURNETT: And he had grown it out, and he had just cut it. And it tells, I don't know. When I saw it, it was the first thing I saw about your son. It seems to, from what you're describing, say so much about him.
C. TENEDORIO: Yes, of his heart. The biggest heart to even think, Mom, let me donate my hair. I'm going to -- I'm going to get it cut. Why not? Let's -- let's find out. And so we researched the best place to do that. And you know, he was very proud, and my hairdresser cut his hair for
him, you know, washed his hair, dried it, cut it nice and neat. It had to be in a perfect cut and rubber band and mailed off, you know, in a plastic bag. It was a wonderful thing.
He's such a handsome guy. Oh.
BURNETT: Lou, what do you what do you do now in this moment that you could never have comprehended you'd be facing?
L. TENEDORIO: Right, no, it's surreal, you know? To me, it's -- all of it is surreal. And, like, you know, last night, my wife started crying as soon as we found out, I held my composure and I hugged her tight.
[19:40:02]
And, you know, I didn't really cry. I did for a little, you know, maybe a few seconds. But, you know, I kept my composure and just supported my wife. And I -- when we got home, you know, everybody was here, family.
C. TENEDORIO: That's a family and friends supporting us, bringing us gumbo and all of this fresh potato salad cake. Oh, boy. King cake already.
L. TENEDORIO: But this morning, I -- the gravity of the situation really hit home, and I just realized that I will never -- my son again. And I just I just broke down, and, honestly, my heart is broken, and --
C. TENEDORIO: For everyone, not just for us, for all of the families that lost their --
L. TENEDORIO: It's just overwhelming.
C. TENEDORIO: Family members and friends.
L. TENEDORIO: When it happens, you know, when it happens to your own. You, me personally, I start thinking, lord, what did I do? What? Why? You know why this? Why?
It questions everything. You know, you question everything and I just --
C. TENEDORIO: Yeah, yeah.
L. TENEDORIO: It's just so hard for me right now to live with this.
C. TENEDORIO: And I'm the one strong because I'm the oldest of six kids. And, you know, I'm used to everything falling on my shoulders. So I just march on and I grieve in different, you know, people just grieve differently. I'm -- it's the way it is. So.
BURNETT: Well, thank you both for talking and for sharing this and again, your loss is incomprehensible. And I can only imagine how hard it is to do this and to do it where others can see it with your grief. But thank you for sharing your child with us.
C. TENEDORIO: Thank you very much for letting us share our wonderful son, Matthew Philip, our gift from God. That's what his name means, gift from God. He was my miracle baby. Thank you again.
BURNETT: Thank you both. I'm so sorry.
C. TENEDORIO: Thank you.
BURNETT: And our viewers, please, you can help that family during this tragic time. There is a GoFundMe set up in Matthew's memory.
And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:46:45]
BURNETT: The breaking news, cars as weapons. CNN tonight learning the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI had actually warned federal and local law enforcement agencies about the heightened risk of cars being used to terrorize and kill in the weeks before the New Orleans massacre.
One of the memos coming after a car rammed into a Christmas market in Germany less than two weeks ago. Five people were killed there, more than 20 injured.
And as our Tom Foreman reports tonight, these are not isolated incidents.
And Tom is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A truck, a teeming crowd, and terror.
CALLER: We have dozens of people who got hit by this car!
FOREMAN: That is the simple formula that brought violence and death to Bourbon Street.
ANNE KIRKPATRICK, NEW ORLEANS POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could.
FOREMAN: And it is far from an isolated incident. In China, late last year, a man rammed his car into a crowd, killing more than 30. In Canada in 2021, a family was purposely crushed by a pickup, just a few years after ten people were killed with a van. The motivations vary, but in New Orleans --
CHRISTOPHER RAIA, FBI DEPUTY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, COUNTERTERRORISM DIVISION: What I can tell you right now is that he was 100 percent inspired by ISIS. FOREMAN: Terror groups have long pushed the idea of using vehicles to
run down large crowds. And al Qaeda magazine in 2010 even showed a Ford pickup similar to the rented one used in New Orleans, and urged readers to mow down the enemies of Allah with the ultimate mowing machine.
Over the past ten years, some researchers say vehicular assaults have become the most common tool of terrorists worldwide because they require no real training, minimal planning, and the scale of the casualties from a vehicle based terror attack can overwhelm traditional resources and strain the abilities of the health care sector.
What's more, they are hard to track.
CNN's Peter Bergen.
PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: You're going to attract some attention if you potentially if you buy a weapon, particularly if you're a suspected or known to be on some kind of watch list. Buying a car, renting a car doesn't kind of trigger those kinds of -- those kinds of alerts.
FOREMAN: Examples are easily found and horrifying. In 2016, in southern France, investigators say a man inspired by jihadist drove a massive truck through a crowd watching holiday fireworks, killing more than 80. The next year in New York City, a pickup truck on a pedestrian and bike path driven by another man with apparent affinity for terror groups left eight people dead, a dozen injured.
In Germany, vehicular attacks on Christmas markets killed a dozen people in Berlin in 2016, and at least five in the central part of the country less than two weeks ago.
BERGEN: There's always going to be a crowd somewhere. For some reason, so I don't see this as a kind of tactic that will fail at any time soon, because you can't defend everything all the time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN (on camera): Great point from Peter there.
Security analysts say there are some ways to maybe make it better, one of which is for cities to put more robust barriers between where the cars ought to be and where the pedestrians are going to be, especially in crowded areas, especially at crowded events where they may have to shut it all down.
All of this, they say, can't prevent every attack, Erin, but it could maybe make these numbers start going down instead of still going up.
BURNETT: All right, Tom, thank you very much.
And next, Trump has doubled down on falsely tying the New Orleans attack to migrants crossing the southern border. This came out of an incorrect Fox News report that spread like wildfire. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight, blaming the southern border for the New Orleans attack, President-elect Trump posting a series of inaccurate posts on social media blasting America's, quote, open borders for the attack in which 14 people were killed.
[19:55:05]
Just to emphasize, of course, the perpetrator was a U.S. born citizen who served in the U.S. military. Trump first made the claims, though, after eight minutes after a Fox News report came out that was inaccurate. It stated that the perpetrators truck crossed the southern border into Texas earlier this week.
Fox has walked back that report. Trump, though, has not.
And his incoming national security advisor today emphasized that the border has made America more vulnerable to attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE WALTZ (R-FL): Where we've had over 300 people on the terrorist watch list traverse our border in the -- in the last years, number one. Number two, I'll remind everyone, just in the last year, we had eight ISIS operatives rolled up surveilling sites to hit in three different cities. A number of them from that cell are still unaccounted for, based out of Tajikistan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT now, a very familiar face to so many of our viewers, Fran Townsend, former counterterrorism and U.S. homeland security advisor to President George W. Bush.
Circumstances are unfortunate, but I am so glad to have you back, Fran. I know we all are.
So obviously, the report in this case about any link to the border was -- was inaccurate. But Mike Waltz is making a specific point separate from that. He's saying the southern border has made the U.S. more vulnerable to terrorism.
How -- how serious is that threat right now?
FRAN TOWNSEND, FORMER COUNTERTERRORISM & HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER TO BUSH: It's a very serious threat. And, Erin, it goes back to right after 9/11. President Bush was so worried about this that during the course of his presidency, he assigned National Guardsmen to go down there and sort of back up and assist Border Patrol. I mean, this has been an ongoing problem.
The sheer numbers that we've seen during this presidency, uh, just present a vulnerability for people to get through.
BURNETT: Right. And, of course, you know, he mentions the Tajikistan issue. All of those things are true. Again, not in this particular case, but it's raised the question.
Trump's incoming border czar, Tom Homan, has predicted law enforcement will ultimately find a connection. I had raised this at the beginning of the hour with Jim Himes, between the Las Vegas attacker and the New Orleans attacker, because they both were at Fort Bragg. They both were in Afghanistan at the same time. They both were decorated military vets. They then -- then small things, like they both used a car. They both rented it from the same car rental company, all of these things.
So far, there's been no known link, though, no indication of a link. But here's what Tom Homan said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM HOMAN, TRUMP BORDER CZAR: This is a gut feeling. I've done this for three and a half decades. I just think there's too many similarities, too much, too much coincidence. I think something down the road, they're going to show there's some sort of connection, whether it's they got -- you know, whether it's some same network or where they got the tools to pull these terrorist attacks off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Do you think he's right?
TOWNSEND: Look, I think what we know so far is that there were three phones and two computers for the attacker in New Orleans. The FBI hasn't gone through all that material, and so, we'll know the answer to what his assertion is when they get through all that. They don't believe yet that there is a connection.
And I think that's right. Look, what we know about the Las Vegas event is that that was a former Army Ranger who was suffering from post- traumatic stress.
BURNETT: Yeah. Okay, so let me ask you about that. He was, you know, Special Forces decorated. Multiple -- I mean, awards, medals. That's in the Las Vegas case.
In New Orleans, we hear about a man that everyone's uniformly saying, well, he had a -- had a great job up until recently. He had become more religious but was but was calm and kind. And you're hearing all these things that obviously are not what actually happened.
So you're talking about post-traumatic stress disorder. You think that that could be something that actually does connect the two?
TOWNSEND: I think that there are these are parallel. If they're connected, we're going to find out from the electronic devices. But at the moment, what we know is both served. The guy in New Orleans complained about Veterans Affairs and getting sort of support through the V.A. We know from the FBI that the guy in Las Vegas was suffering from post-traumatic stress, and they believe it was a suicide.
And I think there's just -- look, it doesn't excuse the tragedy in New Orleans, but we have to understand the rate of military suicides is skyrocketing. There's a huge amount of post-traumatic stress, and its particularly hard in the special units, the special forces units, to ask for help.
I do think that we have to pay more attention to that. It's not the cause, but it's an underlying cause. And I think that if wed spend more time and attention serving our veterans, we might be able to prevent some of this.
BURNETT: Does this also show that ISIS, which I think in the minds of many Americans, has perhaps receded, right. It's receded in its visibility. But when you look at what's happening in Syria, and I know we don't have much time, but all of this disruption could be a bigger threat than people realize.
TOWNSEND: I think that's right. And what we're seeing is the online propaganda and recruitment is going up. And that's exactly how they attract lone wolves. We'll see if there's a direct connection to ISIS here. But certainly he was a sympathizer.
BURNETT: All right. Fran Townsend, good to see you. And thank you very much.
And thanks so much as always to all of you for being with us. See you back here tomorrow night.
"AC360" starts now.
