Edward Pettifer, died as a result of the attack on Bourbon Street, New Orleans
Credit: Metropolitan Police
Following the horrific event that occurred on New Year’s in New Orleans, it has now been confirmed that one of the victims was a British man named Edward Pettifer, aged 31, from Chelsea in West London.
His family have issued a formal statement stating: “The entire family are devastated at the tragic news of Ed‘s death in New Orleans. He was a wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew and a friend to so many.”
“We will all miss him terribly. Our thoughts are with the other families who have lost their family members due to this terrible attack. We request that we can grieve the loss of Ed as a family in private. Thank you.”
Edward Pettifer’s step-mum was a nanny to Princes William and Harry
Pettifer was also the step-son of Tiggy Legge-Bourke who had a close connection to the British Royal family. She was a nanny to both William and Harry between the years of 1993 and 1999, including the time of Princess Diana’s untimely death. It is understood that King Charles has been in contact with the family to offer his personal condolences.
Most of the other 14 victims have now been identified, with just one remaining. Of those, the New Orleans coroner has confirmed they are all from the US and aged between 18 and 63.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar is alleged to have carried out the attack
Further details of the attack have since emerged, alleging that Shamsud-Din Jabbar, aged 42 carried it out. He deliberately drove a pickup truck into a crowd of pedestrians on Bourbon Street, out celebrating the New Year. He had an ISIS flag in the truck and was killed while exchanging gunfire with the police.
Following a press conference held by Christopher Raia, Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, it has been revealed that he posted several videos on his Facebook page just hours before he committed this atrocity. Raia confirmed that within them, he describes how he originally planned to kill his family but changed his plan because he wanted news headlines to focus on the “war between the believers and the disbelievers”. Raia added that Jabbar stated that he had joined ISIS before the summer.
Furthermore, the truck he used in the New Year attack came from the car-owner rental website Turo, which is also linked to the incident that occurred in Las Vegas when a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside a Trump Hotel on January 1. The driver died in the explosion, and authorities are yet to confirm if this, too, was a terrorist attack.
