Man responsible for deadly New Orleans vehicle rampage acted alone, FBI says
Driver posted videos to Facebook proclaiming support for ISIS prior to New Year's Day attack, FBI says
The latest:
- Truck driver in New Orleans attack acted alone, says FBI.
- Agency calls it an act of terrorism inspired by ISIS, an Islamist militant group.
- No "definitive" link between Bourbon Street attack and deadly explosion in Las Vegas.
- Driver posted videos to Facebook prior to the attack declaring intent for violence.
The FBI now says that the pickup truck driver responsible for a deadly rampage on Bourbon Street in New Orleans acted alone, stating Thursday that their investigation had disproved their initial suspicion that he had worked with others.
The man rammed the rented truck into a New Year's Day crowd in the city early Wednesday, killing 14 people and injuring dozens of others in what is being investigated as an act of terrorism.
At first, investigators said they were seeking other suspects, but Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI's counterterrorism division, said on Thursday that the evidence now shows that Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, was solely responsible for the attack and had professed allegiance to ISIS, an Islamist militant group. He was killed in a shootout with police soon after the attack.
"We're confident at this point that there's no accomplices," Raia told reporters.
The FBI also revealed that Jabbar, a U.S.-born citizen from Texas, posted five videos to his Facebook account in the hours before the attack, in which he proclaimed his support for the militant group and previewed the violence that he would soon unleash in the city's famed French Quarter.
The FBI added that it created a new page on their website for members of the public to report any information they have about Jabbar.
No indication of connection with Vegas explosion
Guns and pipe bombs were found in the suspect's vehicle, according to a Louisiana State Police intelligence bulletin obtained by The Associated Press.
The devices were concealed within coolers and wired for remote detonation with a remote control that was also found in the vehicle, the bulletin said. The devices were rendered safe at the scene.
"A lot of the early reports came out that there were extra people setting the coolers down," Raia said, leading investigators to believe that there were accomplices.
He explained that these turned out to be members of the public who simply picked up coolers that had already been placed.
Though none of those people are believed to be involved "in any way," Raia says investigators would like to speak to them as witnesses. He said investigators do not believe that there's any further danger to the public in connection with the attack.
The death toll was initially put at 15, but the FBI clarified on Thursday that the total number of fatalities included Jabbar.
It was the deadliest ISIS-inspired assault on U.S. soil in years, coming as the FBI and other agencies brace for dramatic leadership upheaval — and likely policy changes — after president-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Raia stressed that there was no indication of a connection between the New Orleans attack and Wednesday's explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside Trump's Las Vegas hotel.
The person inside that truck, a decorated U.S. Army Green Beret, had been shot in the head before the explosion, and a handgun was found at his feet inside the charred vehicle, authorities said Thursday.
Fire in rented home where suspect stayed
Officials are only just beginning to put together the pieces of the attack on Bourbon Street, which killed an 18-year-old aspiring nurse, a single mother, a father of two and a former Princeton University football star, among others.
"We know that he specifically picked out Bourbon Street," Raia said.
Over the past 24 hours, investigators have conducted hundreds of interviews and reviewed Jabbar's social media accounts, three cellphones and two laptops connected to Jabbar, all of which helped to rule out accomplices.
Federal authorities are also investigating a fire that broke out early Wednesday at a house rented through Airbnb in the St. Roch neighbourhood of New Orleans, where Jabbar was believed to be staying.
The laptops linked to him were found there, Joshua Jackson, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told reporters.
Jackson said it appeared that the fire was started after Jabbar was killed.
"There's a lot of different ways that could happen," he said. "You could have different time devices. You could have a long cord that extended that time. You could also have pressure cookers that were put on top of the stove filled with gasoline and then it went off."
Suspect '100 per cent inspired by ISIS'
Investigators were also trying to understand more about Jabbar's path to radicalization, which they say culminated with him picking up a rented truck in Houston on Dec. 30 and driving it to New Orleans the following night.
Raia says investigators are digging through more of Jabbar's social media to learn more about his connection to the militant group.
"What I can tell you right now is that he was 100 per cent inspired by ISIS," he said.
On Wednesday, the FBI said it had recovered an ISIS flag, which is black with white lettering, from the vehicle used in the attack.
The FBI reviewed five videos posted to Facebook, including one in which Jabbar said he originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned that news headlines would not focus on the "war between the believers and the disbelievers," Raia said.
He also left a last will and testament, the FBI said.
Public records showed Jabbar worked in real estate in Houston. In a promotional video posted four years ago, he described himself as born and raised in Beaumont, a city about 130 kilometres east of Houston.
Jabbar joined the U.S. army in 2007, and was deployed to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, the service said. He transferred to the army reserve in 2015 and left in 2020 with the rank of staff sergeant.
'Doesn't feel real'
Abdur-Rahim Jabbar, Jabbar's younger brother, told The Associated Press on Thursday that it "doesn't feel real" that his brother could have done this.
"I never would have thought it'd be him," he said. "It's completely unlike him."
He said that his brother had been isolated in the last few years, but that he had also been in touch with him and he didn't see any signs of radicalization.
"It's completely contradictory to who he was and how his family and his friends know him," he said.
City returning to normal
By Thursday, New Orleans was inching toward normal. Authorities finished processing the scene of the attack early in the morning and removed the last of the bodies. Bourbon Street — famous worldwide for its music, open-air drinking and festive vibes — reopened by early afternoon.
Where the truck had rampaged one day earlier, a brass band played to a large crowd. Across the street, a bouquet of white flowers rested on the sidewalk.
Trombone player and lifelong New Orleans resident Jonas Green, 22, told The Associated Press it was important for his band to be out on Bourbon Street the day after the attack.
"I know with this music, it heals, it transforms the feelings that we're going through into something better," Green said. "Gotta keep on going."
The Sugar Bowl college football game between Notre Dame and Georgia, initially set for Wednesday night and postponed by a day in the interest of national security, was still on for Thursday. The city also planned to host the Super Bowl next month.
New Orleans "is not only ready for game day today, but we're ready to continue to host large-scale events in our city because we are built to host at every single turn," New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said.
Proceeding with the game shows the resilience of the city, Ronal Serpas, former chief of the New Orleans Police Department, told CBC's As It Happens.
"It sends the message that we are going to be a community and a society that can stand up to terror and that won't allow terror to change our lives," he said.
With files from Reuters and CBC News