Hometown team coaches stunned by New Orleans truck attack

New Orleans Pelicans head coach Willie Green said the NBA team was "devastated" by the truck-ramming attack that killed at least 15 people in the city's French Quarter as New Year's celebrations were underway.

"Obviously, our hearts and our prayers, our thoughts go out to all the families that are impacted by, to be honest with you, a senseless act of violence," Green said as he addressed reporters in Miami before the Pelicans faced the Heat on Wednesday night.

"We discussed it a bit with our players, but we're just living in times and in a world where you don't know where you're safe.

"Schools, churches, people should be able to go out and have a good time and walk the streets and it's devastating.

"I can only imagine what those families are going through and what they have to deal with now for the rest of their lives."

The FBI identified the attack suspect as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old US citizen from Texas. Authorities say he steered a pickup truck into a crowd of revelers and they are investigating possible associations with terrorist organizations and whether he worked with accomplices.

After their road game in Miami on Wednesday, the Pelicans are scheduled to host the Washington Wizards on Friday.

The NFL's New Orleans Saints, meanwhile, are scheduled to play their last game of the season on Sunday in Tampa Bay.

The Saints' interim head coach Darren Rizzi, speaking to reporters in New Orleans, called it a solemn day.

"It's hard to understand, it's really hard to comprehend why these things keep happening in our country," said Rizzi, who added that as a native of New Jersey he lost personal friends in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

"Any time anything like this happens it always resonates," he said.

But Rizzi said he expected New Orleans, which has rebounded from disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, to weather this latest tragedy.

"Here's what I know," Rizzi said. "I know that the community we live in, the city, the state, is one of the most resilient, if not the most resilient, in the entire United States.

"That's been proven time and time again.

"I also know this: this entire community has our entire organization behind them 100 percent. Our players, our coaches, our staff -- everybody with this organization is 100 percent here for this community."

—Agence France-Presse