(Reuters) – A brand new chapter in mass assaults started in Good, France, in 2016, when a person drove a heavy truck into crowds of Bastille Day celebrants. Since then automobile assaults have change into more and more widespread, although just some have been declared acts of terrorism. The New Yr’s Day assault in New Orleans, as revelers ushered in 2025, was the most recent assault.
A driver crashed his pickup truck right into a crowd celebrating New Yr’s Day in New Orleans’ French Quarter and opened fireplace, killing 10 folks and injuring greater than 35, in an early morning assault the FBI mentioned was a possible act of terrorism.
Car assaults have change into more and more widespread around the globe. The U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Safety Company calls automobile assaults “a significant threat in the United States” and offers a “Vehicle Incident Prevention and Mitigation Security Guide.”
Beneath is a listing in reverse chronological order of some high-profile incidents during which a automobile was used to ram into crowds, harming and killing bystanders.
MAGDEBURG, Germany
Final month in Germany, a 50-year-old man was charged with a number of counts of homicide and tried homicide after police mentioned he plowed a automobile by means of crowds at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing 5 folks and injuring scores.
The suspect, who was in custody, is a psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia with a historical past of anti-Islamic rhetoric who has lived in Germany for nearly twenty years.
ZHUHAI, China
A driver in November rammed his automobile right into a crowd at a sports activities middle within the southern Chinese language metropolis of Zhuhai, killing 35 folks and severely injuring 43 in one of many deadliest assaults in up to date Chinese language historical past.
Police mentioned the 62-year-old driver, with the surname Fan, had been captured and was hospitalized for wounds believed to have been self-inflicted with a knife to the neck and different elements of his physique. Fan had been upset concerning the break up of belongings in his divorce settlement, police mentioned.
WAUKESHA, Wisconsin
A Wisconsin man was convicted in 2022 of killing six folks and injuring dozens when he drove his SUV right into a Christmas parade close to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in November 2021. Darrell Brooks was accused of intentionally driving his sport utility automobile by means of police barricades and plowing into crowds of individuals taking part within the annual parade in Waukesha, about 15 miles (25 km) west of downtown Milwaukee.
LONDON, Ontario
A 22-year-old self-confessed Canadian white nationalist ran over and killed 4 members of a Muslim household along with his pick-up truck in June 2021 in London, Ontario, a Canadian metropolis about 120 miles (190 km) from Toronto. In 2023 Nathaniel Veltman was convicted of first-degree homicide. The decide within the case known as it an act of terrorism.
TORONTO
In 2018, a person plowed a rented van into dozens of individuals in downtown Toronto, killing 11 folks and injuring 15.
Alek Minassian was discovered responsible in 2021 of murdering 10 folks and making an attempt to homicide 16. One of many 16 later died in reference to accidents suffered within the assault, and a decide mentioned she thought-about the lady the eleventh homicide sufferer.
NEW YORK
In October 2017, a 34-year-old Uzbek nationwide plowed a rented truck onto a Manhattan bike path, killing eight folks and injuring 11, together with a Belgian girl who misplaced her legs. Sayfullo Saipov, who had moved to the USA in 2010, was convicted in 2023 of homicide with a purpose of becoming a member of Islamic State, which the USA designates a terrorist group.
BARCELONA
In August 2017, a 22-year-old man rammed a automobile into crowds in Barcelona on Las Ramblas, a preferred vacationer spot, killing 13 folks. The person, Younes Abouyaaqoub, fled the scene on foot earlier than later stabbing a person to dying and taking his automobile to flee. Abouyaaqoub was shot lifeless by police a number of days later close to Barcelona.
NEW YORK
In Could 2017, A U.S. Navy veteran rammed his automobile into pedestrians in Manhattan’s crowded Instances Sq., killing a girl and injuring 22 folks. A jury in 2022 accepted the madness protection provided by Richard Rojas.
LONDON
In March 2017, a automobile sped throughout Westminster Bridge, mowing down pedestrians simply exterior Parliament, killing 4 folks and injuring dozens. The driving force, 52-year-old Khalid Masood, a British-born convert to Islam, then fatally stabbed a police officer earlier than he was shot lifeless.
BERLIN
In December 2016, Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist hyperlinks, hijacked a truck, killed the driving force after which plowed it right into a crowded Berlin Christmas market, killing 11 extra folks and injuring dozens. 4 days later he was killed in a shoot-out with police in Italy.
NICE, France
In 2016, a gunman drove a heavy truck right into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day within the French coastal metropolis of Good, killing 86 folks and injuring scores extra in an assault claimed by Islamic State. The attacker was recognized as a Tunisian-born Frenchman.