Stephen A. Smith has stressed that America contains ‘sick individuals who want people to suffer’ in a terrifying verdict after the New Orleans terror attack.
The Louisiana city has been left devastated after a terrorist ploughed a vehicle into a large crowd celebrating the New Year on Bourbon Street early Wednesday morning; a senseless act of chaos which claimed the lives of 15 and left 35 injured.
The driver has been identified by the FBI as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar, who was killed in a resulting shootout with police after ramming into the group at high speed before getting out and firing a weapon.
Investigators also found what appeared to be improvised explosives at the crash site that did not detonate, along with an ISIS flag and weapons as the FBI continues to assess Jabbar’s connection to the terror group.
In the wake of the attack, ESPN First Take co-host Smith admitted America still has ‘a long way to go’ after conceding that the nation contains ‘folks who are hellbent on spreading chaos’.
‘It’s devastating and just shows no matter how far we’ve come as a nation we’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got some really sick individuals out there who wanna see the world burn, they want people to suffer,’ he said on Thursday’s edition of First Take.
Stephen A. Smith has stressed America contains ‘sick individuals’ after the New Orleans attack
New Orleans is reeling after a terrorist ploughed a vehicle into a large crowd, killing 15 people
‘I won’t say everybody, but they want the country to experience a precipitous demise and I think that’s clearly obvious.
‘Those are folks on the fringes. The vast majority of American citizens are law-abiding, god-fearing individuals who want the best for themselves and everybody else, they want peace to basically reign.
‘But you do have folks who are hellbent on spreading chaos and taking lives along the way if necessary.
Following the devastating events of Wednesday morning, the much-anticipated college football quarterfinal between No 2 Georgia and No 7 Notre Dame, initially slated for 8:45pm ET on New Year’s Day, was pushed back to 4pm on Thursday.
As the authorities continued to conduct security checks, and with the city on high alert, officials postponed the Sugar Bowl fixture at Caesars Superdome for 24 hours given the attack took place roughly ten blocks away from the stadium.
‘I totally agree with the decision to postpone this game, it was the right decision to make,’ Smith continued.
‘When you hear that 10 initially and then ultimately we learnt that 15 people had been killed, when there’s an investigation as to whether or not this was a coordinated attack, when you hear that there were elements of terrorism that’s being investigated as a strong suspicion of that, it definitely raises red flags and gives you cause to pause.’
Shamsud Din Jabbar (pictured), 42, has been identified as the driver behind the attack
‘I’m thinking about now what’s going on there today, I’m thinking about the fact that the Super Bowl is going to be there next month.
‘New Orleans is a phenomenal city. It’s a party town, it’s filled with joy and whatever, but adversely it’s had its tragedies in the past. But in the end, they’ve overcome a lot. This is yet the latest thing they have to overcome.
‘But we are all involved in this because obviously there are suspicions that this was some kind of coordinated attack. We don’t know that for sure, it’s still being investigated.
‘But obviously there’s people out there that are hellbent on spreading chaos and instilling fear, and we’ve got to show our intestinal resolve as a nation.
