Did New Orleans authorities fail the victims of the New Year terror attack?
Did the authorities fail the victims of the New Orleans terror attack? It’s barely in question, surely.
And yet, consider the response of Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick of New Orleans police when I asked if she’d let them down by not having an appropriate security plan.
“That’s not correct, we would disagree with that.”
“It has to be a security failure?” I suggested.
Pic: Reuters
“We do know that people have lost their lives,” she responded. “But if you were experienced with terrorism, you would not be asking that question.”
With that, she was escorted away from gathered journalists by her media handlers.
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Superintendent Kirkpatrick had been holding a short news conference at the end of Bourbon Street to herald its re-opening. It was just yards from the spot where a terrorist was able to drive through a gap in a makeshift line of obstructions and accelerate towards New Year crowds.
Invoking “experience with terrorism” is something to ponder. What experience told authorities they had adequate protection against a vehicle attack?
What experience told them it was appropriate to have a car’s width gap in makeshift street barricades?
What experience told them to contradict the security protocols of major cities around the world when it comes to large public gatherings?
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Brother of attack victim reveals last words
The victims who have been named so far
Pic: Reuters
To many, the answer shouldn’t be talk of experience – it should be, simply: “Sorry.” Notably, it has seemed to be the hardest word in a series of briefings by authorities who have bristled at the notion of security failings.
I asked Jack Bech for his view. He lost his brother Martin, or ‘Tiger’ in the Bourbon Street attack. He told Sky News he watched the final moments of his brother’s life on a FaceTime call to an emergency room as doctors tried, but failed, to save him.
It’s one heartbreaking story among dozens in this city.
Tiger Bech (left) and Jack Bech (right). Pic: Jack Bech
On security, he said: “You can’t blame them. That dude easily could have been walking through the crowd with a jacket on and a bomb strapped to his chest.”
True. But the least that might be expected is an acknowledgement of failure to stop the man who drove his weapon into the crowd because he was able to. They certainly can’t claim success.
A measure of contrition would, perhaps, help the healing in this city. Experience should tell them that, if nothing else.
Charlie Kirk has been posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Donald Trump.
The USA’s highest civilian honour was received by the conservative activist’s widow, Erika, at the White House.
Mr Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on 10 September while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University.
He founded Turning Point USA and toured American university campuses, debating students about current affairs.
Erika Kirk at the White House. Pic: Reuters
Erika Kirk and Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters
Addressing those attending the ceremony in the White House rose garden, the US president said they were there to “honour and remember a fearless warrior for liberty” and a “beloved leader who galvanised the next generation”.
He said Mr Kirk’s name was being entered “forever into the eternal roster of true American heroes”.
Mr Trump described Charlie Kirk as an “American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest calibre”.
He said his nation had been “robbed” of an “extraordinary champion”.
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And Mr Trump said Mr Kirk was assassinated in the “prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith, and relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America”.
The ceremony coincided with what would have been Mr Kirk’s 32nd birthday.
Mr Trump described Erika Kirk, now head of Turning Point USA, as someone who had “endured unspeakable hardship with unbelievable strength”.
Read more:
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Charlie Kirk’s movement is growing in wake of his assassination
Charlie Kirk. File pic: AP
A 22-year-old man, Tyler Robinson, from the city of Washington in Utah has been charged with Mr Kirk’s murder. Prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty.
At a memorial event held at a stadium in Arizona, Erika Kirk told an enormous crowd she forgave her husband’s killer.
“The answer to hate is not hate,” she said.
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