Why attackers use vehicles as weapons to kill innocent people in crowds
By Holly Yan, CNN
(CNN) — When an Army veteran “hell-bent” on creating carnage rammed a 6,000-pound pickup truck into a crowd of revelers, the massacre in New Orleans followed a disturbing trend -– assailants using vehicles to run over innocent civilians.
More than a dozen high-profile vehicle attacks on crowds have taken place in recent years. While many are terror attacks stem from radical religious beliefs, others have allegedly been carried out by white nationalists or far-right activists.
Here’s a look at why some killers choose vehicles over other weapons and the motives behind some of the deadliest attacks:
‘Strike as many people as possible’
The FBI is digging into how the New Orleans attacker – a former human resource specialist and Army veteran who served in Afghanistan – apparently became radicalized.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar had an ISIS flag on the truck during the massacre. Before he was gunned down by police, the Texas native had recorded videos mentioning his divorce and how he joined ISIS before this summer, authorities said.
In the videos, Jabbar said he initially wanted to kill his family but changed his plans because he wanted news headlines to focus on the “war between the believers and the disbelievers,” an FBI official said.
Radical Islamist terror groups such as ISIS and AQAP, al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen, have long advised supporters to use heavy vehicles as deadly weapons.
The AQAP published a 2010 article called “The Ultimate Mowing Machine,” encouraging followers to “mow down the enemies of Allah.” It promoted the use of four-wheel-drive pickup trucks because “the stronger the better.”
“To achieve maximum carnage, you need to pick up as much speed as you can while still retaining good control of your vehicle in order to maximize your inertia and be able to strike as many people as possible in your first run,” the article said.
In 2014, an ISIS spokesman called for followers to attack a “disbelieving American, Frenchman or any of their allies” and “run him over with your car” if needed.
Why some choose vehicles over other weapons
“A vehicle attack doesn’t require any special training,” CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen said. “You just rent a vehicle, buy a vehicle and use it as a weapon.”
After a vehicle attack, horrific images of covered corpses, scattered belongings and popular areas left in shambles leave a profound psychological impact – and often feed into the perpetrator’s goals.
“Certainly, there is a short-term effect where it terrorizes people,” Bergen said. “People are worried about going out in places where there are a lot of people gathered.”
While some vehicle attacks target holiday revelers, others have killed everyday pedestrians. Suspects have included ISIS followers, a white nationalist and an outspoken critic of Islam.
These are some of the deadliest vehicle attacks in recent history:
Magdeburg, Germany
Date of attack: December 20, 2024
Number of casualties: Five people were killed and more than 200 were injured
What happened: A car plowed into a bustling Christmas market five days before Christmas. The slain victims ranged from 9 to 75 years old. The suspect, 50-year-old psychiatrist Taleb Al Abdulmohsen, was arrested at the scene.
Why it happened: Authorities have not confirmed the motive. But in May, Al Abdulmohsen posted a cryptic message on X: “German terrorism will be brought to justice. It’s very likely that I will die this year in order to bring justice.”
Al Abdulmohsen, a Saudi Arabian citizen, had moved to Germany in 2006. While initially appreciative of Germany, he seemed to grow disgruntled with the country’s immigration policies in recent years.
On social media, Al Abdulmohsen vented his frustrations with what he considered Germany’s soft line on immigration and Berlin’s overly cordial relationship with the Saudi regime.
He publicly supported the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and accused Germany of promoting the Islamization of the country. In a 2019 newspaper interview, Al Abdulmohsen described himself as “the most aggressive critic of Islam in history.”
German authorities said they were investigating Al Abdulmohsen’s “dissatisfaction” with Germany’s treatment of refugees, although they said more time was needed to establish a motive.
Waukesha, Wisconsin
Date of attack: November 21, 2021
Number of casualties: Six people were killed and more than 60 were injured
What happened: The driver of an SUV intentionally drove around barricades and crashed into a Christmas parade, authorities said. The suspect, Darrell E. Brooks, had been out on bond after allegedly running over a woman less than three weeks before the Waukesha tragedy.
Why it happened: The motive remains unclear.
Brooks represented himself during his trial and asked jurors to consider “what if the vehicle couldn’t stop because of malfunction?”
“What if the driver of the vehicle was unable to stop the vehicle? Because of that fact, what if the driver may have panicked? Does that make the driver in a rage and intent on killing people?” Brooks asked the jury during his closing arguments.
Brooks was convicted on 76 counts and sentenced to six consecutive life sentences plus another 700 years in prison.
New York City
Date of attack: October 31, 2017
Number of casualties: Eight people were killed and about a dozen were injured
What it happened: The driver of a rented U-Haul truck jumped a curb and drove down the bicycle path along West Side Highway. The suspect, Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, was arrested and charged with 22 federal counts, including eight counts of murder.
Why it happened: Saipov, a native of Uzbekistan, told investigators he was inspired by ISIS videos to use a truck in the attack “to inflict maximum damage against civilians,” according to a complaint. Investigators searched two of his cell phones and found about 90 videos and 3,800 pictures, many of which were ISIS-related propaganda.
Saipov said he was motivated by a video of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi questioning “what Muslims in the United States and elsewhere were doing to respond to the killing of Muslims in Iraq.”
A judge sentenced Saipov to eight consecutive life terms, calling him “unrepentant.”
Barcelona, Spain
Date of attack: August 17, 2017
Number of casualties: At least 14 people were killed and more than 100 were injured
What happened: A van plowed into crowds on the Barcelona thoroughfare of Las Ramblas, a popular stretch filled with cafés, bars and street performers.
Why it happened: Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called the Barcelona attack “jihadi terrorism.” ISIS’ media wing, Amaq, has said the Barcelona attackers were “soldiers of the Islamic State” but stopped short of explicitly claiming responsibility for the attacks or providing evidence for their claims.
Charlottesville, Virginia
Date of attack: August 12, 2017
Number of casualties: One person was killed and 19 others were injured
What happened: During a “Unite the Right” rally, the driver of a gray Dodge Challenger crashed into a group of antiracism counterprotesters. The attack killed 32-year-old civil rights activist Heather Heyer.
The driver, James Alex Fields Jr., was later sentenced to life in prison for murder and hate crimes.
Why it happened: Fields admitted under oath that he drove into the crowd because of the “race, color, national origin, and religion of its members,” the US Department of Justice said.
Fields also admitted he had expressed white supremacist views on social media; supported the policies of Nazi-era Germany, including the Holocaust; and espoused violence against African Americans, Jewish people and members of other racial, ethnic and religious groups he perceived to be nonwhite, the DOJ said.
In addition, a court ruled white supremacist groups must pay more than $2 million in damages to “Unite the Right” rally victims.
London
Date of attack: June 3, 2017
Number of casualties: Eight people were killed and more than 40 were wounded
What happened: Three men drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge before going on a stabbing rampage at bars at nearby Borough Market. They were shot and killed by police.
Inside the van, police found two blowtorches and what appeared to be 13 Molotov cocktails.
Why it happened: Police named the attackers as Khuram Shazad Butt, 27; Rachid Redouane, 30; and Youssef Zaghba, 22.
Authorities believe Butt was associated with the outlawed radical Islamist group al-Muhajiroun, cofounded by notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, though the group provided no evidence for its involvement or details of the attack.
Stockholm, Sweden
Date of attack: April 7, 2017
Number of casualties: Five people were killed and about a dozen were injured
What happened: A stolen beer truck barreled into pedestrians on a busy shopping street in the Swedish capital before plowing into a department store.
Why it happened: The attacker, Rakhmat Akilov, had shown sympathies to extremist groups, including ISIS, Swedish police said. Akilov admitted to carrying out a “terrorist crime,” his lawyer said. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Jerusalem
Date of attack: January 8, 2017
Number of casualties: Four soldiers were killed and at least 10 people were wounded
What happened: Authorities said 28-year-old Fadi Qunbar plowed into a group of Israeli soldiers on a popular promenade overlooking the walled Old City of Jerusalem.
Why it happened: The driver may have been an ISIS sympathizer, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“All signs show he is a supporter of the Islamic State,” Netanyahu said. “We know there is a sequence of terror attacks, and it’s quite possible that there is a connection between them – from France, Berlin and now Jerusalem.”
Berlin
Date of attack: December 19, 2016
Number of casualties: Twelve people were killed and at least 48 were wounded
What happened: A tractor-trailer rammed into a crowd at a Christmas market filled with holiday shoppers. The suspect, Anis Amri, was later killed in a shootout with police in Italy.
Why it happened: A video showed Amri pledging allegiance to ISIS. And the ISIS-affiliated Amaq news agency said the attack was carried out by “a soldier of the Islamic State” to target citizens of countries fighting ISIS.
Columbus, Ohio
Date of attack: November 28, 2016
Number of casualties: 11 people were injured
What happened: Abdul Razak Ali Artan, an Ohio State University student, rammed a car into a group of pedestrians on the campus. He then got out of the car and lunged at passersby with a knife. Moments later, an Ohio State University police officer fatally shot Artan after he refused to stop.
Why it happened: Authorities said they believe Artan was inspired by terrorist propaganda from ISIS and the late Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, two law enforcement sources said.
In a Facebook post shortly before the rampage, the Somali immigrant said he was “sick and tired” of seeing fellow Muslims “killed and tortured,” federal law enforcement officials said.
Artan urged the US “to stop interfering with other countries, especially the Muslim Ummah,” a term for Muslim people at large. “By Allah, we will not let you sleep unless you give peace to the Muslims,” he wrote.
Nice, France
Date of attack: July 14, 2016
Number of casualties: 84 people were killed and more than 200 were injured
What happened: Authorities said Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel used a 20-ton truck to strike hundreds of people in Nice, where large crowds gathered to watch Bastille Day fireworks.
After the truck barreled through the crowd for almost a mile, police shot and killed Bouhlel.
Why it happened: ISIS said the attack was retaliation for France’s role in the fight against ISIS.
“The person who carried out the run-over in Nice, France, is one of the Islamic State soldiers and carried out the operation in response to calls to target nationals of the coalition which is fighting the Islamic State,” the terror group said in a statement.
But French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Bouhlel had no record of making militant statements and was not believed to be a member of ISIS. “It seems he became radicalized very quickly,” Cazeneuve said.
CNN’s Brian Todd, Jennifer Arnow, Sandi Sidhu, Ivana Kottasová, Nic Robertson, Matthew Chance, Benjamin Brown, Brad Parks and Nic F. Anderson contributed to this report.
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