New Orleans terror survivor recalls ‘surreal’ aftermath of fatal attack that left his legs shattered

New Orleans terror survivor recalls ‘surreal’ aftermath of fatal attack that left his legs shattered

NEW ORLEANS – Jeremi Sensky was returning to his hotel after meeting friends in the early hours of New Year’s Day when he heard a “massive noise” – the last thing he remembers before he ended up face down landed on the ground and his wheelchair was smashed around him.

Sensky survived the deadly Bourbon Street terror attack Wednesday morning, in which an ISIS-inspired Texas man rammed a truck into a crowd of revelers in New Orleans’ French Quarter. He spoke to NBC News from his hospital room, where he is recovering with two broken legs.

“I’m assuming I was hit by the truck, but honestly no one has ever told me that so I don’t know,” Sensky said. “But my wheelchair was completely broken and the pieces were all over the place, so something hit me.”

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According to the FBI, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar made his way from his home in Texas to Louisiana on New Year’s Eve and posted several videos on social media. Jabbar said in the videos that he originally intended to harm his family and friends, but then moved on to a larger attack and focused on the “war between the believers and the unbelievers.”

He drove a rented Ford F-150 onto the sidewalk into a crowd, weaving through barriers and police before he was killed in a shootout with officers. The attack killed 14 people and injured dozens more.

Sensky was right next to the Jabbar’s truck after it plowed into the crowd.

Survivor Jeremi Sensky spoke to NBC News from his hospital room, where he is recovering with two broken legs.
Survivor Jeremi Sensky spoke to NBC News from his hospital room, where he is recovering with two broken legs. NBC News

Everything happened so quickly, he said. One moment he was turning around and the next moment he was lying on the ground amid the sound of gunfire coming from different directions.

“All I heard was screaming and gunshots,” he recalled.

Unable to find his phone, Sensky began screaming for help.

“No one wanted to come, so I pushed myself on my back and saw people taking pictures from the balcony and I screamed for help and people just looked at me,” Sensky said.

A police officer named Patrick eventually came to him and explained that many people were dead, Sensky recalled. The officer told Sensky that he was “lucky to be alive.”

“I kept asking for someone to help me and get me out of there, and it took a while,” Sensky said. “I realized it was a bad scene.”

Sensky, who was paralyzed from the waist down before the attack, doesn’t think anyone noticed he couldn’t walk as they surveyed the chaos of the scene. He was eventually carried to an ambulance and taken to hospital where he underwent surgery.

His right leg was broken into “a million pieces,” but Sensky also said it saved him.

Sensky told NBC News that the entire experience was “surreal.” He broke down in tears as he spoke about the attack, moved by his disbelief that anyone could do such a thing.

“I love everyone. Everyone,” Sensky said. “I can’t believe this would happen.”

Tom Llamas reported from New Orleans. Doha Madani reported from New York City.

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