By David Shepardson
(Reuters) -The city of New Orleans had begun replacing security barriers along Bourbon Street before Wednesday's truck attack, which killed at least 10 people and injured more than 30, and officials conceded a stop-gap security plan did not work.
The suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was able to drive around a police car and onto the sidewalk.
"We did indeed have a plan, but the terrorists defeated it," New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said during a press conference, adding that the prior barriers had suffered malfunction issues.
In response to vehicle attacks on pedestrian malls around the world, New Orleans was in the process of removing and replacing the barriers known as bollards that restrict vehicle traffic in the Bourbon Street pedestrian zone. The barriers had first been installed in 2017 ahead of the NBA All-Star game as part of a $40 million security plan.
Police said the bollards are strategically placed at five locations in the city's French Quarter, where Bourbon Street is located.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the "bollards were not up because they are near completion" with the plan of being in place before the Feb. 9 NFL Super Bowl, which will be played about a mile from Bourbon Street at the Superdome stadium. The city was able to fund the replacement bollards as part of its Super Bowl infrastructure plan.
Kirkpatrick said the police vehicle "was where all of those bollards had been.... In this particular case, the terrorist just went all the way around up onto the sidewalk."
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said the state will address security issues raised by the truck attack.
"We recognize we had a problem right here, right. We're going to fix it," Landry said. "It's going to be a top priority as we go into the Super Bowl."
A 2017 report commissioned by the city noted that the French Quarter "is often densely packed with pedestrians and represents an area where a mass casualty incident could occur."
The report said the "area also presents a risk and target area for terrorism that the FBI has identified as a concern that the city must address."
New Orleans, which first installed bollards following other vehicular attacks around the globe, said it was now installing removable, stainless-steel bollards that can be securely locked behind each crosswalk.