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FBI deputy assistant director Christopher Raia holds a press conference on the New Orleans truck attack and the latest developments in the investigation.
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A 42-year-old Texas native swore allegiance to the ISIS terror group and plowed a pickup trip into a crowd of New Year’s revelers on New Orleans’ famous Bourbon Street early Wednesday, killing at least 14 and injuring more than 30 others.
The FBI identified the killer as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a twice-divorced Army veteran who, despite a lucrative job at a large consulting firm, had a history of financial struggles and missed child support payments, records show.
Much of the information was made publicly available at a news briefing Thursday involving Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and ATF Special Agent Joshua Jackson.
“Let me be clear about this point,” Raia told reporters Thursday. “This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act.”
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT VICTIMS OF NEW ORLEANS TERRORIST ATTACK
Shamsud-Din Jabbar pictured in an undated photograph released by the FBI after he attacked New Orleans’ Bourbon Street with a pickup truck and died in a shootout with responding officers. (FBI)
Anyone with information on the attack or Jabbar, or who was on Bourbon Street for New Year’s, is asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. Tips, including photos and videos, can also be submitted online.
Here is a timeline of events:
Jabbar picks up a Ford F-150 EV rental in Houston, according to authorities.
He used the Turo app to obtain the vehicle, the same app authorities say was used in a separate EV explosion in Las Vegas, Nevada, where a Tesla Cybertruck exploded at the front door of the Trump Hotel.
Raia said the FBI had found “no definitive link” between the two attacks but noted it was “very early” in the investigation. Both Jabbar and the man involved in that explosion, Matthew Livelsberger, served in the Army and were deployed to Afghanistan in 2009.
Both had also been stationed at Fort Liberty, however, investigators said there was no known overlap in their assignments at the North Carolina base, which currently has more than 50,000 servicemen and women stationed there. It was also not immediately clear they had been deployed in the same region of Afghanistan.
SUSPECT IDENTIFIED AS FBI INVESTIGATES ACT OF TERRORISM AFTER BOURBON STREET ATTACK
New Orleans police and federal agents investigate a suspected terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s Day on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (Chris Granger/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
Jabbar explains he originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the, quote, ‘war between the believers and the disbelievers.’
Jabbar drove from Houston to New Orleans – about 350 miles.
During the journey, he posted five videos about the attack and his motive to Facebook, Raia said.
In the first video, posted at 1:29 a.m., Jabbar revealed he changed his plans in order to try and attract as much attention as possible to the crime.
BOMBMAKING MATERIALS FOUND AT NEW ORLEANS AIRBNB POTENTIALLY TIED TO BOURBON STREET TERRORIST: REPORT
Investigators block off Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2024. Multiple people are dead and dozens are injured after a man drove into a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Wednesday. (Audrey Conklin/Fox News Digital)
“Jabbar explains he originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the, quote, ‘war between the believers and the disbelievers,’” Raia said.
Jabbar’s final video was posted at 3:02 a.m.
“Additionally, he stated he had joined ISIS before this summer,” Raia said. “He also provided a will and testament.”
At some point before the attack, within “roughly a couple hours,” Jabbar planted at least two IEDs in the area, according to Raia.
Then at 3:17 a.m., Jabbar sped around a police car at the end of Bourbon Street and accelerated toward throngs of pedestrians, New Orleans police said.
The attack killed at least 14 people, and Jabbar died in a shootout with police after crashing the truck.
INVESTIGATION CONTINUES, AS FBI SAYS NO OTHER SUSPECTS INVOLVED
More than 30 other people were injured.
Investigators search the rental home used by Shamsud-Din Jabbar in New Orleans, Louisiana on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2024. Multiple people are dead and dozens are injured after Jabbar rammed his car into crowds of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street on Wednesday. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)
Police recovered an Islamic State group flag in Jabbar’s truck, at least three cellphones and other devices. He had planted two IEDs concealed in coolers along Bourbon Street, and authorities were able to disarm them safely.
The FBI immediately took a lead role in the investigation, city police said.
Later in the day, the FBI identified Jabbar as the suspect and released a photo. Other photos from the scene appear to show the ISIS flag mounted to the truck’s trailer hitch.
Federal investigators were looking to speak with anyone who was in the area before, during and after the attack.
“We want to talk to anyone who was in the French Quarter on New Year’s Eve or early on New Year’s Day,” Raia said. “That includes people spotted near one of the two IEDs on Bourbon Street. The IED was inside a cooler and maybe people stopped and looked at the cooler and then continued on their way.”
Investigators continue to block off Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2024. Multiple people are dead and dozens are injured after a man drove into a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Wednesday. (Audrey Conklin/Fox News Digital)
He said they are not considered suspects “in any way.”
An Airbnb that may be linked to the attacker burst out in flames around 5:30 a.m., according to New Orleans’ FOX 8. Investigators said they later found bombmaking materials inside. Raia acknowledged that the FBI was searching a house with a Mandeville address for evidence in connection with the case.
“Our working theory now is that the fire started after Jabar was already deceased,” ATF Special Agent Joshua Jackson later told reporters.
He said investigators were still looking into the cause.
OFFICIALS POSTPONE SUGAR BOWL IN THE WAKE OF APPARENT TERROR ATTACK ON BOURBON STREET
Authorities continued to release additional details about the attacker and search homes in both Houston and New Orleans.
On a call with congressional lawmakers, the FBI revealed it had no intelligence on Jabbar prior to the attack.
“The FBI on the call said that they had no knowledge of Jabbar – he was not on their radar,” Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee who was on the call, told Fox News. “They had no intel about him. He wasn’t someone they were watching. And I think that is incredibly scary because we’ve always heard about the sleeper cells that exist in our country.”
Aerial image of New Orleans attack suspect’s home in Houston, Texas. (KRIV)
Prior to the attack, Jabbar served in the U.S. Army. He was a human resource specialist and IT specialist from March 2007 until 2015. He then continued as an IT specialist in the Army Reserve until July 2020.
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More recently, he worked for Deloitte, a major international accounting firm.
Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Liz Friden, Brooke Curto, Jennifer Griffin, Aishah Hasnie and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
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