BREAKING: New Orleans assistant district attorney found dead in apparent suicide

Kersting was found inside the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office building at 619 South White St. with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to a report by Fox 8 Live. Emergency Medical Services responded to the scene but pronounced Kersting dead upon arrival, law enforcement confirmed.

The DA’s office released a statement about the incident, saying, “The Orleans Parish DA’s Office family suffered a terrible tragedy Saturday night.”

“Assistant District Attorney Ian Kersting was a beloved member of our office, and we send our love and deepest condolences to his family,” the statement continued. “It’s important that we support each other right now, and we ask the media respect the privacy of the individuals impacted.”

Kersting was a prosecutor specializing in sexual assault cases. He worked in the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) unit, which specialized in working alongside the New Orleans Police Department’s sex crimes detectives to investigate and prosecute sexual offenses using DNA evidence.

The report of Kersting's suicide comes as the entire city of New Orleans has been receiving national attention for a terrorist attack that took place on New Year's. 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a Ford F-150 into crowds of people on Bourbon Street, killing 14 and injuring many others.

According to federal law enforcement officials, Jabbar was "inspired" by ISIS but not "directed" by the terrorist group. Jabbar rented a pickup truck in Houston and drove it to the scene of the crime, where he had an ISIS flag attached to the hitch. Jabbar also posted several videos in which he expressed support for ISIS. FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia told reporters "We do not assess at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack except for Shamsud-Din Jabbar."

On Sunday, FBI officials said that the investigation into Jabbar expanded after they discovered he had crossed “state and international borders” including into both Egypt and Canada in the years prior to the attack. Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams commented on these findings to ABC News, saying, "This next most important phase of the investigation is to find out how that radicalization happened and if it happened on that trip."

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