Pittsburgh-Area Man Injured In New Orleans Terrorist Attack

CANONSBURG, PA — A wheelchair-bound Western Pennsylvania man was among the dozens injured when a truck plowed into a crowd during a New Year's celebration in New Orleans. At least 15 people were killed in what the FBI is investigating as a terrorist act.

Jeremi Sensky, 51, of Canonsburg, underwent surgery Wednesday for two broken legs after being hit by the truck, family members told WTAE-TV. He remained on a ventilator but is expected to survive.

Sensky was in New Orleans with family to celebrate the new year.

Heaven Sensky Kirsch, who was on the trip with her father, told the Observer-Reporter of Washington that she and her mother had headed back to their hotel while Sensky stayed behind to have a pizza with friends. Kirsch said she and her mother became concerned when he did not return as scheduled.

Kirsch told WPXI-TV that Sensky is confined to a wheelchair because he is paralyzed and thus had no way of getting out of the truck's path.

According to the FBI, the lead investigative agency, the truck rammed into the crowd on Bourbon Street at about 3:15 a.m. The driver exited the vehicle and began firing upon local police officers. They returned fire, killing the suspect. Two police officers were shot in the exchange and taken to a local hospital.

The driver was identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran from Texas. He was driving a rented Ford pickup truck that contained weapons, a potential IED and an ISIS flag.

Investigators are attempting to determine whether there are possible connections between the attack in New Orleans and a Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside a Trump Hotel in Las Vegas just hours into the new year. The vehicles used in both incidents were rented from Turo and both suspects had military backgrounds.